Divided Heart: by Rhea Jediknight and SJ
by Mireilles3
Summary: Complete! L/M angst, adventures. During diplomatic duties, Mara deals with romantic issues while an old friend resurfaces in her life. Meanwhile, an Imperial Commander looms in the shadows and plans to destroy the usurpators of power, once and for all.
1. Default Chapter

Divided Heart  
Part 1: Rendezvous  
By SJ and Rhea Jediknight (skyjade@globetrotter.net and   
jediknight@mail2master.com)  
05-04-03/26-04  
  
SJ: "This new story is a joint venture for SJ and the awesome L/M writer: Rhea   
Jediknight. Both of us have written and corrected every character of this new   
story,"  
  
Rhea: "but some scenes are exclusively SJ's, and others are mine. Mostly though,   
what you'll read here is a hopefully entertaining blend,"  
  
SJ and Rhea: "of both of our styles and characterizations." ;P  
Summary: While a diplomatic charming operation is taking place on  
Coruscant, Mara discovers that her former boss has feelings for her, but  
before she can truly develop her relationship with him, an old friend  
from her imperial life resurfaces while she witnesses what could be the  
beginning of a relationship between Luke and the princess of Cariba.  
While she tries to figure her heart out though, danger looms in the  
shadows as an Imperial Commander plans to destroy the usurpators, once  
and for all.   
____________________   
____________________  
  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more   
details.  
  
  
Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and   
accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my   
friend!  
  
Rhea: Thanks to SJ for working on this with me. It's been fun!  
___________________  
"Luke," his sister warned him when he tried yet again to weasel his way out of   
her latest 'duty', "you must attend this week's reception. The Cariban court   
will take offense of your absence since---"  
  
"I am the only Jedi Master, I know, I know," he grumbled, throwing her an   
exasperated glance from under his eyelashes before he shook his head in   
displeasure. "I don't see why my presence would be necessary though. The Jedi   
Order is independent from the Republic, and I certainly do not intend to 'court'   
them in order to acquire favors from their new territory."  
  
"Luke," Leia said again, this time seriously, "they have specifically requested   
your presence. The king's daughter will be present and they wish to introduce   
her to you."  
  
Great, Luke rolled his eyes in definite annoyance. Another match-making attempt.   
"Leia," he sighed patiently, "I really have much more important things to do   
this week than to go to Coruscant to meet yet another younger, rich dignitary.   
The new students have just begun to..." His voice faded away when he noticed how   
his sister's eyes turned grim. She was dead serious about his being present at   
the reception.   
  
"It is part of their customs, Luke. If we want to earn their trust further, we   
must show some open-mindedness toward those."  
  
In short, Luke summarized to himself, if he did not go, 'he' would be   
responsible of a rift between the new member of the Republic and his sister's   
government. "You've already promised them that I would be there, haven't you?"   
he queried disapprovingly.  
  
"I'm sorry, I had no choice," she apologized. "I know how much you hate these   
arrangements."  
  
He raised an eyebrow, perplex. "Do you?" he inquired, memories of other 'blind'   
dates coming back to him.  
  
"Yes, I do now," she reassured him. "That's why I've warned the king that I   
would ascertain your presence, but nothing else. The rest will be between you   
and his daughter."  
  
"And what did he say?" he asked, aware that another custom on Cariba was to   
arrange marriage like they did in the Hapes Cluster.  
  
His sister smiled reassuringly at him. "He's accepted that part of our custom."  
  
For a long moment, Luke considered his sister's request. He had more than his   
fill of her attempts to match him with beautiful, sophisticated young ladies of   
her class of citizens. The women had always been wonderful, of course, but they   
had just been 'too' wonderful for a farmboy like him, he sighed glumly. He   
simply wasn't cut out to fit with a dignitary of the upper class, no matter if   
he believed in such categories or not.   
  
What mattered though was that except for his sister, and his best friend Mara,   
he never felt comfortable with refined companions of the opposite sex. Yet, here   
was another request for him to try and match with a dignitary's daughter, and he   
couldn't refuse without endangering the whole peace treaty with the human   
Caribans.   
  
Rubbing his neck in weariness, he finally gazed up at his sister once again.   
"Just an evening, then I'm out of there," he warned her meaningfully. "It   
really isn't a good time for me to leave the Academy at the moment."   
  
"Deal," his sister smiled at him. "Don't worry, you won't have to talk with her   
about trading business or politics. The other guests will take care of that with   
the rest of the Cariban guests."  
  
"Good," he nodded, then paused as he registered what she had just told him.   
Traders? "Have you added Mara to the list of guests? She now owns her own   
company--"  
  
"Yes," Leia nodded, smirking slightly at him this time. "She's been notified.   
Even though her company is still completing the distinction process from   
Karrde's organization, we have considered that her expertise with the rim trade   
would be most profitable to the Caribans."  
  
"And to your convincing them to completely join the Republic and open the   
markets," Luke added knowingly.  
  
It was his turn to voice his sister's thoughts. "Well," she fumbled slightly,   
"yes, and she's agreed to that. If she can sign a deal with them, the Caribans   
will be her first important clients."  
  
Knowing his friend and how determinate she was when it came to reaching her   
goals, Luke suspected that even though she did not care anymore than he did   
about receptions, she too had chosen to do what she had to do so as to ensure   
their new peace with one of the last independent systems of the outer rim.  
  
Well, he thought to himself next, if Mara would be on Coruscant, perhaps his   
going there would not be 'that' bad after all. He hadn't seen her in a long   
while.  
  
He missed her.  
  
"All right," he concluded with his still waiting/watching sister. "I'll leave in   
a few hours. I'll be on time for the reception."  
  
"Thanks Luke," Leia smiled fondly at him, "I'll make it up to you, I promise.   
Perhaps a decent meal before you tackle this new duty?" she offered more gently.  
  
Luke tried to not grimace too much at the prospect of eating some of his   
sister's cooking. "Hmmm, well, considering the frenzy in which you'll be on that   
evening, I don't think that it would be a good idea. Don't worry though," he   
reassured her, "you'll have other occasions to catch up on that debt."  
  
"Okay," his beautiful sister nodded. "See you soon then. I miss you, brother."  
  
"I miss you too, sis," he smiled gently at her. With a last gaze, they cut off   
their transmission, and he was alone with his thoughts once again.  
  
Coruscant, he thought glumly, and another reception during which he would feel   
like a fish in the middle of the Tatooine desert... unless he could find Mara.   
  
Mara, he smiled more warmly. He was truly happy for her that she had made her   
trading dream come true. Of course, he was saddened that she would probably   
never train as a Jedi ever again, but, he shrugged inwardly, she would be happy.  
  
It was the only thing that truly mattered to him.   
  
As he called to mind his last memory of his weirdly-tempered, stand-fast,   
mesmerizing friend, he made a note to himself to try and arrange to see her at   
least once before returning to Yavin.  
  
For some reason, he suddenly couldn't wait to see her again and he decided that   
he might delay his return until he 'would' have a 'real' moment of friendship   
with her.   
  
But first, he reminded himself more glumly, he had a date to catch up with.  
  
He exited the main communication room of the temple and went in search of Kam   
and Streen, his two most trustee apprentices/teachers.  
******  
------Mara Jade watched Talon Karrde, who was sitting across the three tiered   
Holochess board, as he pondered his next strategy. His features were as rigid as   
ever as his most powerful piece, the Monnok, gave a final cry when Mara's Houjix   
outmaneuvered and defeated the computer generated beast. The young woman sat   
back in her seat, a triumphant grin spreading across her face.   
  
As he took in her rare, genuine smile, Karrde found it hard to be resentful of   
her obvious victory. Forgetting the game for a moment, the smuggler studied his   
good friend and colleague with new eyes.   
  
Mara had left his group just a few months ago, yet she was already at the head   
of a small but thriving business. They had just finished a tedious but lucrative   
business dinner with a representative of the Everante Cluster. Aware that he was   
very familiar with the intricacies of Everante law, Mara had asked for his   
presence at the negotiations. After coming to an agreement with the Cluster's   
representative, the two humans had decided that a celebration had been in order.  
  
After sharing a glass of Alderaanian wine on the restaurant's grounds, they had   
adjourned to her apartment. There, their holochess matches had developed into a   
good natured rivalry; neither of them had wanted to abandon now that they were   
no longer working together.  
  
At the moment though, Karrde was filled with more than comradeship for his ex-  
associate. She was garbed in a form fitting black and silver gown and her red-  
gold hair hung in a shimmering mass of curls down her back. She was simply   
stunning.  
  
She dazzled him again with a new smile. "Face it Karrde, there's no way that you   
can get out of this one."   
  
Talon found his gaze trapped in her dancing emerald eyes and wondered if her   
Jedi senses could detect his rapid pulse. He leaned back in his chair, suddenly   
finding the woman seated across from him infinitely more interesting than the   
game. "You're right. I know when it's time to surrender with dignity."  
  
Mara seemed momentarily disappointed; Karrde almost laughed out loud as he   
realized that she had wished to make her victory complete.  
  
"Of course," he added gallantly, "I wouldn't want to deny you the pleasure of   
watching my utter defeat."  
  
Mara laughed and waved her hand in the air. "It's all right, I'm content to know   
that I won."  
  
Karrde watched her with avid interest now, observing details that most people   
would not have noticed.   
  
Over the last few months, Mara had grown more relaxed. She smiled more readily   
and the cold reserve that Karrde had grown to associate with the beautiful woman   
had lessened. He had known how much her independence meant to her, but he had   
never thought how well it would suit her.   
  
For as long as he knew her, he had always considered her to be one of his best   
friends, someone he could rely upon as well as a shrewd business partner.   
However, he had never realized just how much he would miss having her in his   
life. Over the years, she had become a constant companion, but now, her absence   
in it had left a hole.   
  
He had always cared for her, but he was just beginning to realize just how deep   
his feelings for this woman went.  
  
Mara flicked a switch at the base of the board; the holographic pieces   
disappeared with a low hum.   
  
Before she could stand up, Karrde spoke. "Mara, Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Since when did you ever need my permission to ask me a question?" she replied   
flippantly. When she saw the intent look on his face she grew still, "What is   
it, Talon? What's wrong?"  
  
Karrde smiled slightly, enjoying the way she said his first name. "I've been   
asked to attend a conference with the delegates of the Cariban court tomorrow   
night."  
  
"Organa-Solo has already invited me to attend too," Mara nodded.  
  
"I was wondering if you would come with me?" Karrde asked.   
Mara noticed that although Karrde's features were as composed as ever, he   
strangely appeared slightly flushed. She could see that the pulse in his neck   
was going just a bit faster than normal and she could sense his growing   
nervousness. What could?..., she wondered--- then her eyes widened as she   
realized that her former employer was asking her out, not as a colleague but as   
a woman. "Let me get this right," she began slowly, "you are asking me out on a   
date, right?"  
  
Karrde's mouth twisted slightly and he said: "Did I just overstep my bounds?   
Maybe this isn't a good idea."  
  
Mara thought about it for a moment. Talon Karrde was an attractive man. He had   
his share of females fighting for his attention at numerous social gatherings,   
and she was a woman who had worked closely with him for years. She had never   
thought of him as a man before, mostly because it was against her code of ethics   
to get involved with her boss, but Karrde no longer was her boss, and he was   
still one of her best friends. She respected him deeply and cared for him. Given   
time, could her feelings develop into something more?  
  
Karrde continued, "I tried to hide it, feeling that it was not appropriate to   
get involved with a co-worker, but things have changed. You're a beautiful,   
intelligent woman," he told her in an earnest way that dimly reminded her of a   
farmboy of her acquaintances. "I would be honored if you would allow me to   
court you, but I want you to know that I value our friendship very highly. I   
don't want to do anything that would jeopardize that."  
  
Mara gazed into his pale blue eyes, regarding him closely. For a moment, Mara   
wished that his eyes were just a shade deeper, more intense, and that his hair   
was dark blond. She blinked at that, trying to banish these thoughts. Where did   
that come from? But she knew- Skywalker. Again. Because she knew that she would   
soon see him again.  
  
She had heard from Organa-Solo that Luke would be at the conference, with   
Tarrintha Goule, the King's daughter. Although, she suspected that this   
occurrence was arranged by Princess Leia.  
  
Anyway, she pulled herself out of her musings, it would be better to attend the   
gathering with someone on her arm, then alone. It would also be much better if   
she could be with someone she could trust, someone she liked..., someone like   
Talon Karrde.   
  
She slowly nodded at her companion. Talon's face broke out into a broad grin. "I   
would be happy to go with you... Talon."   
  
She stood up; Karrde got to his feet as well. She could sense his joy at her   
words, and a part of her was similarly buoyed. Another part, though, kept her   
grounded.   
  
"I had better go. You've had a long and profitable day. I'll pick you up at   
about five?" he offered.  
  
"That will be fine," Mara agreed.  
  
He leaned toward her face, and Mara wondered if he were going to kiss her, then   
wondered if she were ready for this or not.   
  
As if sensing her nervousness, her companion seemed to reconsider and took her   
hand instead. He kissed the back of it.   
  
Although she wasn't sure how she felt about Karrde's sudden coming out, his   
action filled her with a surprisingly warm and comfortable sensation. He raised   
his head, smiled, and released her hand.   
  
"Until tomorrow, then," he said, his voice taking on a very sensual range.  
  
Feeling that she should say something, but at a complete loss for words, Mara   
saw him to the door. She locked it behind him and her first thought was to com   
Skywalker. However, as she gazed at the blank monitor when her finger hesitated   
on the activation switch, she decided against it.   
  
Almost right on the heels of that decision, a flicker through the force alerted   
her that Skywalker had now entered her sensing range, and so has she his. She   
reached out for a moment and wordlessly soothed him away.   
  
It was better not to talk to him just now, she decided. Tomorrow, she would   
enjoy her outing with Talon Karrde; she would not let feelings for a particular   
Jedi obstruct her new hopes for future happiness.   
******  
Deep in the catacombs of Venia, which located in the outer sector of the Cariban   
space, disgruntled imperials held a secret meeting. As he gazed at the newly-  
acquired weapon, the Grand Commander felt his excitement and lust for revenge   
bubble within him.  
  
At last, he thought darkly, they had captured it. Their allies had been through   
to their words and had helped his troops to infiltrate the Cariban weapon   
facilities and steal a working model of their seismic accelerator.  
  
"Of course," Commander Pakc of Intelligence warned, "this model will need to be   
modified if we want it to destroy a forth of the main Rebel base."  
  
'AKA Coruscant,' the Commander supplied for himself.  
  
"However, the techs assure me that they will be able to complete the   
modifications to your specifications."  
  
The four other men smirked with malice.  
  
"Perfect," the Commander acquiesced. "Have the techs work on it non-stop if they   
have to. I'm going to Coruscant with my team and make sure that the other part   
of our plan succeeds without a hitch. When can we expect this cargo to join us   
there?" he inquired, turning toward the Intel expert.  
  
"In three days from now, Sir, separated in five parts," the other bowed.  
  
"Very good." A mere forty-eight hours later, the Commander would watch the   
beginning of the end of Coruscant as the crust of the strained planet would   
disintegrate. "Make sure to center the attack on the Republic headquarters."  
  
"With pleasure, Sir," the others bowed to him, then left him, returning to their   
duties.  
  
Soon, he promised himself as he watched the departing group, soon he would no   
longer be a power in the shadows; he would step into the light once again. He   
would finally be acknowledged by everyone. For now though, he had a part to   
play.   
  
"What is the last information about the Jedi Master?" he asked his   
intelligence expert.  
  
"He is on his way to Coruscant for the Cariban conference, ETA 1000," the other   
informed him.  
  
"Most excellent," he smiled to himself.   
  
They would truly hit them all in one, swift stroke that would make the Death   
Star pale in comparison, and he himself would finally complete his last command.  
******  
As Luke had promised Leia, he arrived on Coruscant barely a few hours before the   
beginning of the reception.  
  
Leia had hoped fervently that he would make a detour by her place to touch base   
with her, but other than a quick touch through the Force, he had avoided her,   
finding refuge in his apartments.  
  
Or so it felt to Leia anyway.  
  
In a way, she knew that she could not ask him to do anything but what he had   
already agreed, but at the same time, she had wanted to talk with him before she   
would introduce him to the Cariban dignitaries. She had to at least coach him   
into the proper behavior with this new culture, and she had to---  
  
"I wonder if Luke's arm is still sore from all that twisting," her husband   
commented from her side as they rode the turbolift up to the hangar floor.  
  
"Huh?" she feigned confusion, "I don't know what you mean."  
  
Han turned toward her, giving her a 'come-on' gaze that she had come to   
understand as a warning that he could see right through her. Sometimes she was   
sure that he could use the Force too for he had an uncanny ease for reading her   
just as well as she could him.  
  
"All right," she sighed, then nervously brought her hand to her mass of braided   
hair. The tightly woven strands were tied in an intricate, solid knot that was   
firmly affixed on the crown of her head. "I pulled diplomatic strings on him, I   
admit it."  
  
"The Caribans never requested his presence, did they?"  
  
"But princess Tarrintha looked so eager to meet him, and the King was more than   
ready to approve a marriage ---"   
  
"But they did not 'twist' your arm into inviting him. You did."   
  
Beaten, she sighed wearily. "I could not refuse them this privilege, Han," she   
said simply. "You should have seen their smiles when I told them that I would   
make sure that he would attend. They love him, Han. Everybody loves him, you   
know?"  
  
"Sure, I've been the first one to fall for his farmboy naivete," he smirked more   
lightly before he turned serious once again, "but even then, Leia, I also saw   
how moody he could be. He has a temper." he warned her more seriously. "You'll   
have to stop pulling him around by his Jedi cloak or he might just give you the   
slip one of these days."  
  
"Luke?, she gaped at him. "He wouldn't," she shook her head in denial. "I know   
my brother."   
  
"You 'knew' him," Han pointed out knowingly. "He's changed a lot throughout the   
past years. He sure isn't the farmboy I rescued from Tatooine anyway."  
  
"I know," she sighed in agreement, then checked the glowing numbers that   
indicated the floor that they had now reached. "Sometimes though, I wonder if   
those changes have been for the best."  
  
Han didn't answer her last remark. The lift finally stopped and the doors slid   
open once again. Sandwiched between Leia's professional bodyguards, the couple,   
garbed in refined clothing, walked toward the main door of the hangar bay of   
their airspeeder.  
  
******  
As Jade and Karrde approached the casino that had been reserved for the Cariban   
reception, she dimly wondered if the location had been the idea from the   
president herself or from her ex-smuggler of an husband.  
  
"Quite an unusual setting for a diplomatic reception, isn't it?" Karrde   
commented beside her.   
  
"This must hold some significance for the Cariban dignitaries. I've heard that   
this treaty is very important for the New Republic," she shrugged, then pushed   
her wind-blown strands of hair out of her eyes.  
  
"But for which reason," his companion commented seriously, "their acceptance of   
the New Republic? or their weapons technology?"  
  
"Touche," she agreed, then looked up at the imposing building of the Manarai   
Casino before she refocused on her escort.  
  
Karrde was dressed in a form-fitting, rangy, thigh long jacket that was   
completed by trousers that had transformed him from smuggler to gentleman for   
the evening. She watched him with interest as he bowed his head in salutations   
to Councilor Fey'lya and his mate when they walked past them.   
  
When the aliens ignored them, he leaned closer to Mara's head, reclaiming her   
wandering attention. "Somehow, I doubt that the setting of this reception will   
change its atmosphere."  
  
Mara absently nodded in agreement. However, she had barely heard him. Instead,   
her gaze had followed the obnoxious alien and was once again riveted on the tall   
building as a shiver kept running up and down her spine like a warning signal.   
  
There was danger in there, she finally understood. It was not an immediate one,   
but she would be well advised to keep her eyes peeled for any sign of deceit.   
  
She and her handsome escort finally reached the main doors and stepped through   
the entryway. She quickly made a note to herself to warn Luke about her feeling   
when she would see him. She remained alert, heightening her awareness with the   
help of the Force.  
  
Wardens inspected their invitations very carefully, then when everything   
appeared to be in order, they invited them to step inside. Skywalker's sister   
and her retinue were near the entrance, greeting their guests. Despite the   
reminder of danger, Mara decided to enjoy the evening.  
  
The orchestra was playing music too loud and fast for a typical formal reception   
while the empty space above the main gambling floor was filled with smoke and   
laser-lit images and messages. As if affected by the unusual setting, the   
attendees were as raucous as if they had been in a cantina on a tenth-rate   
planet. Or perhaps they were even worse, Mara decided. After all, clients of   
such a cantina would keep a low profile in order to avoid attracting unwanted   
attention. She refocused on the welcome committee.  
  
"Welcome Mara, Talon," Leia greeted them less formally than she had just greeted   
her Cariban guests. "We're very glad that you could join us, and I personally   
wish you a very profitable evening."  
  
"Yeah, but avoid the Corellian Chance wheel. The odds are too high in favor of   
the house," Han commented as he clasped her hand, then conspiratorially leaned   
closer "and Lando has already cleaned it out for the evening."  
  
"Ah, so Calrissian is the one to challenge to a game of Sabaac then," Mara   
commented in amusement as she shook hand with Skywalker's best friend.  
  
Han's mouth quirked in a half smile, "Exactly."  
  
She felt a momentary twinge of disappointment when she failed to see Luke   
anywhere close by. She quickly scanned the casino, sensing his proximity but she   
was unable to 'see' him. They moved away from the Solos.  
  
"Looking for Skywalker?" Karrde inquired dryly as he guided her toward a   
gambling table.  
  
Mara shot him a look and said: "Why, that almost sounded jealous."  
  
"Should I be?" he asked, his lips pressing tightly together.  
  
"He's my friend," she reminded him, soothingly laying a hand on his arm.  
  
The tension eased from his mouth and he smiled more easily. "Sorry."  
  
Both warmed and disturbed by this little display she went on: "I'm here with you   
tonight, Talon. Remember?"  
  
Her companion nodded quickly as he bent down--- and gave her a quick kiss.   
Mara's eyes widened in surprise. He chuckled lightly at her. "I think that's the   
first time I've ever managed to catch you off guard."  
  
A familiar, almost memorized, gentle voice interrupted them, "I'd be careful   
Karrde. Her bite's worse than her bark."  
  
Mara turned around at that, startled that she hadn't felt his approach, "Luke."   
She felt a slight flush spread across her face, but it immediately drained away   
when she set eyes on the tall, blonde woman who was clinging to the Jedi's arm.  
  
"This is Tarrintha Goule, princess of Cariba." Luke said, casually disentangling   
his arm from the other's grip. "Tarrintha, this is Talon Karrde and Mara Jade,   
some of my very good friends."  
  
The woman smiled slyly and said, "I'm sorry if we're interrupting."  
  
Mara, though, didn't hear her. Instead, her senses were monopolized by the   
Jedi's sight. Instead of his usual Jedi garb, Luke was wearing fashionable, very   
elegant clothes. He looked, she dimly thought, as if he were a handsome prince   
instead of a staid Jedi. His dark blue trousers were matching his short jacket   
that was enhancing his well-built stature, but what was truly completing the   
effect was the satin blue, straight-collared shirt that he was wearing under his   
jacket. Mara was momentarily mesmerized by how blue his eyes appeared,   
perfectly matching the satin of his shirt; she was so engrossed in that detail   
that she barely noticed that he was not wearing his lightsaber at his hip,   
banishing his Jedi image for the evening.  
  
Then Talon casually put his arm around her waist and the moment was gone. The   
red head fought the impulse to push Karrde away, then she saw how Tarrintha   
pushed up against Luke once again and remembered in the nick of time that she   
had come out with Karrde, not Luke.  
  
"It's an honor to meet you, princess," Karrde greeted formally.  
  
"I'm pleased that our system has finally come to an arrangement with the New   
Republic."   
  
Mara instantly saw red when she noticed how the other eyed her friend as if he   
were the next item on a list of purchases.   
  
"It's always good to be neighborly."   
  
The ex-assassin decided that she did not like this woman. In front of her, Luke   
was obviously embarrassed, and less than comfortable to add anything either   
positive or negative, to the conversation.  
  
"Shall we?" Talon asked her, gesturing toward the dance floor.  
  
Mara, who was once again caught in Skywalker's blue gaze, almost reluctantly   
refocused on her plainer companion and forced herself to smile up at him.   
  
The smuggler pulled her toward him, obviously enjoying how she felt in his arms.   
She, though, was not sure that she enjoyed it 'that' much.  
  
Behind them, Luke and Tarrintha followed them toward the dance floor.  
******  
Long minutes later, Mara abandoned herself to the music once again, moving with   
sinuous grace in time to the melodic tempo. Talon was an admirable dancer, she   
reminded herself in a conscious attempt to focus on him instead of her other   
friend. She reflexively smiled when he took her by the hips, swaying with her,   
accompanying her moves.   
  
No matter how hard she tried though, her gaze kept drifting toward the couple   
that was at the far side of the room.   
  
Luke was holding the blond woman, dancing with her with remarkable skill. Her   
eyes narrowed when she saw the possessive way that Tarrintha held onto his   
shoulders. She raised her barriers before her feelings could reach---  
  
Luke's gaze rose to met hers; shocked by the intensity of his gaze, she stumbled   
for a moment. He smiled, as if in understanding, and she felt a little flutter   
in her gut as she returned the smile. She turned away, feeling unaccountably   
flustered. She studiously avoided glancing again in the Jedi's direction; it   
proved to be quite a challenge for her.  
  
It even worsened when Talon seemed to notice the small exchange and bent his   
head toward Mara's ear. "Luke seems to be enjoying himself," he said neutrally.   
  
Talon's words made her heart twist.   
As he gazed at his far away friend, Luke felt a stab of red hot jealously slice   
through his heart. With their heads pressed closely together, Mara and Talon   
were the picture of intimacy.   
  
He tried once again to pull away from the clinging woman, counting the minutes   
until he could leave this reception. Not only was his social duty weighing on   
him, but his insides kept churning upside down as he watched Mara and Talon   
dance in his peripheral vision.   
  
They looked good together, he admitted even though this thought caused a sharp   
lance of pain to go right through him. He pondered his reaction. Both Talon   
and Mara were good friends of his, he reminded himself. Hence, he should be   
glad that they appeared to have grown close.   
  
He should, he conceded, but he didn't.   
  
He watched them closely, supremely aware of his emotional pain when he saw Talon   
draw the red haired beauty against him.   
  
"I said, don't you just love dancing together," Luke's companion repeated, an   
edge of irritation filling her voice.   
  
Luke felt guilty as he returned his attention to his dancing partner. Seeing   
that she had successfully reclaimed his attention, Tarrintha leaned seductively   
forward, displaying her cleavage for optimum advantage.   
  
The Jedi just barely prevented himself from rolling his eyes. He edged away in   
time with the music, effectively putting a greater distance between them. She   
was beautiful, accomplished, intelligent, and she seemed genuinely interested in   
him, although how much of that could be attributed to his status as the Jedi   
Master, Luke wasn't sure.  
  
What he knew though was that he was completely unmoved by her; she had not   
attracted his attention at all, not even with her 'intelligent' topics. He would   
have made an excuse to leave, but as his gaze drifted once again toward Jade and   
Karrde, he felt reluctant to do so.  
  
"This isn't my idea of fun," he finally replied coolly.  
  
"Then what is your idea of fun?" she asked coyly.  
  
'Talking with Mara, bantering, and flying,' he thought to himself, then   
refocused on his partner. "Let me get you a drink," he told her instead an left   
her standing on the dance floor. He quickly made his way off the raised dance   
floor, past a row of Sabaac tables and toward the server droid that was standing   
behind the bar.   
  
As he walked closer, Luke noticed that Han was reclining lazily against the bar.   
He raised his drink to the younger man in welcome and said, "I see you're   
enjoying yourself just about as much as I am."  
  
"Is it that obvious?" Luke said with a grimace.  
  
"Well," his friend slurred knowingly, "let's just say that your absence of smile   
does give you away, yeah."  
  
Luke sighed at his friend's accurate comment. He guiltily checked on Tarrintha   
again; he noticed that she was deep in conversation with her aide, a tall man   
with strawberry blond hair and a slight limp. And he was looking at her with the   
eyes of a lover.  
  
Luke felt a moment of sympathy for the man, wondering if Tarrintha even realized   
that her aide had feelings for her, then turned away and placed an order with   
the Server droid. He then sat on the stool that was just beside Han's. "She just   
isn't my type, I guess."  
  
"Like every other dignitary that you've ever been introduced to," his friend   
commented, then winked at him when he saw him redden as if caught cheating at   
Sabaac. "Don't worry, Kid. I won't be the one to scold you about that new   
failure. I might have married the last princess of Alderaan, but I sure wouldn't   
repeat the experience with the princess of Cariba."  
  
"Smuggler and princesses," Luke ribbed him as he nodded his thanks to the droid.   
"Figures."  
  
"As much as farmboy and princess do, huh?"  
  
The young Jedi grimaced again at that. "Yeah. Next time that Leia wants me to   
come over for a social call, I think that I'll convince my students to misbehave   
and strand me on Yavin. It just isn't my kind of thing."  
  
"If you ever do that," Han smirked at him, "I'll make an emergency trip to Yavin   
to help you 'calm' them down."   
  
Relieved that his friend understood him so well, Luke relaxed some more and   
really ribbed him on the arm. "You'll never change, you old pirate."  
  
"Me?" Han groused as he used to, "never on your life, but then," he smirked   
lopsidedly as he gazed at the young Jedi master, "you haven't changed 'that'   
much either, Kid."  
  
"Yeah. Thanks to Mara..." he replied reflexively, then paused as he mentioned   
his best friend's role in his retaining his lighter demeanor despite his Jedi   
duty.   
  
He turned his head around and searched the dancing floor for the beautiful young   
woman.   
  
"She doesn't seem to be enjoying her date anymore than you are, Kid," the older   
man said from behind her.  
  
Luke whirled around, shocked by what his friend had just said. "What??," he   
shook his head next, "but Karrde is a good match for her. It really shouldn't be   
so surprising to see her with him. I guess it's probably just because I've   
never seen them like this before. She has great respect for him, and was willing   
to sacrifice her life for his even before we were friends."  
  
Han shrugged, "Somehow, I don't think that her sense of honor is enough to   
maintain a romantic relationship with him. There just seems to be something   
missing between them."  
  
'Like deep affection and an incredible desire just to be with the other,' Luke   
thought to himself as he slowly turned back toward his friend----  
  
"Master Skywalker?" Tarrintha's sultry voice drifted closer once again. "Is   
everything all right?"  
  
Barely covering his grimace that his reprieve was over so fast, Luke took a deep   
breath, then faced the foreign princess once again. She was beautiful, he tried   
to encourage himself, and she was not too obtrusive, but what annoyed him was   
how she seemed to stick to him like sealing paste for his x-wing. "Yes, of   
course," he reassured her coolly. "The Server droid had a slight delay," he   
lied, dimly rebuking himself.  
  
A Jedi was not supposed to lie, but then, the farmboy in him shrugged, a Jedi   
was not supposed to flirt with dignitaries because his sister had gotten   
involved in a new attempt of matchmaking.  
  
Tarrintha gracefully accepted the glass that he offered her, then sidled closer   
to him until Luke felt as if he were trapped between her and the bar. "Do you   
want to dance again?" he offered her quickly, aware that his brother-in-law was   
watching him with great amusement.  
  
Before the young woman could shake her head, he extended his elbow toward her.  
  
Oddly disappointed by this turn of events, the princess slipped her arm through   
his and walked back toward the dance floor with him. Behind them, Han could   
barely contain his laughter as he watched his friend give the princess quite a   
run for her money. She would never understand the young Jedi, he thought to   
himself.  
TBC in part 2  
Written 2003 by Rhea Jediknight (jediknight@mail2master.com) and SJ   
(skyjade@globetrotter.net) 


	2. Part 2: Ghost of the Past

Divided Heart  
Part 2: Ghost of the Past  
By SJ and Rhea (skyjade@globetrotter.net and jediknight@mail2master.com)  
05-04-03/  
____________________  
  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more   
details.  
  
  
Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and   
accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my   
friend!  
  
_____________________  
"Talon, would you do me a favor and ask Tarrintha to dance with you?"  
  
Talon looked inquiringly at Mara. She continued, "Maybe you can find out what   
would get her to agree to let Jade Enterprises handle the trade negotiations."  
  
"What about Skywalker?"  
  
"I'll take care of him," she answered almost nonchalantly, "Maybe he can help me   
out too."  
  
After studying her for a moment, he nodded, "Of course." He smiled, "After all,   
A trade contract would be so much better than flowers, don't you think?"  
  
Mara chuckled and watched him leave. She turned around--- and slammed right into   
the Jedi. He put his hands out to steady her. Her normally calm demeanor   
vanished the moment that Skywalker touched her. His face was intense and she   
could feel him trying to read her through the Force.  
  
"Where's your date?" he asked, deceivingly calm.  
  
"Talon's not... He went to dance with Tarrintha, 'your' date" she added with   
emphasis, "to try to charm a contract out of her for me." Aware that she was   
still more-or-less pressed against the Jedi's strong body, she slightly stepped   
away.  
  
"I had no idea that you and Karrde had grown so close," he commented. "It's...   
surprising."  
  
Mara shrugged, losing herself in the azure depths of Luke's eyes, "He asked me   
out," she said simply, wishing that this Jedi had done so instead of her former   
employer.  
  
"I see," the other nodded briefly but his eyes informed her that he was not done   
considering her words. "May I have this dance then?"  
  
"Sure, but in exchange, you'll tell me what will happen after tonight between   
you and the princess," she warned him as she rested her hand on his strong   
shoulder, slightly tightening her grip as if she were suddenly feeling   
possessive of him.  
  
As she analyzed her reaction, she dimly noticed that Luke's hand was also   
holding her close to himself, as if he were feeling the same way toward her.   
"Nothing will happen," he reassured her, gazing straight in her eyes. "She's   
just another duty that Leia forced me to attend."  
  
"I figured this much," she nodded.  
  
"What about you and Karrde?" he inquired quickly before she had time to speak   
again.  
  
------"What about us?" she perched a groomed eyebrow at him.  
  
"I know that you have a lot of affection for him," he reminded her as he quickly   
spun them around, in time with the music. "You wouldn't have gone out with him   
unless you felt something for him."  
  
Mara had deftly followed his maneuver and now took the lead to guide him into a   
series of intricate steps; Luke followed her as if he had always danced with her   
like this. "And what if I do?" she answered him, suddenly on the defensive.   
Sure, she had opened the subject of their current dates with him, but she had   
not planned to open her heart to him.  
  
"Well," Luke retorted, dipping her down and backward, surprising her with his   
agile move before he righted her and spun her around on her heel. "Isn't he kind   
of old for you? And what about the fact that he used to be your boss?"  
  
Although Mara was genuinely stunned by Luke's unexpected dancing talents, she   
stopped her spin and locked her gaze with his intent one. "Too old? He's hardly   
that much older. Are you the type who believes that lovers should be about the   
same age?" she asked him, taking his hand back in hers and leading him through   
another series of quick steps.  
  
"No, but---"  
  
"I expected you to be much more open-minded than that about love, Jedi," she   
scoffed. "After all," she added before he had had time to speak again, "you   
certainly had no qualms at all to fall in love with a sixty-something year old   
woman who borrowed the body of a younger woman upon her death."  
  
The moment that her words left her lips, she realized that she had overstepped   
the boundaries of their friendship. Luke's blue eyes turned to icy chips even as   
his whole body turned rigid under her hands. "Never, ever, speak of Callista   
that way," he warned her.  
  
"Why?" she asked her reflexively, caught herself, then decided that it was too   
late to back down anyway; the subject was now open. "Can't you face the truth of   
what she was? She was a body-snatcher, Luke, and---"  
  
"And you are a heartless ex-assassin, Jade," Luke spat, unwittingly attracting   
the attention of the nearby dancers on the two of them.  
  
Mara instantly saw red and was about to insult him worse than ever when an   
unknown voice inquired from behind her: "Jade? Mara... Jade?"  
  
Upon hearing the way that the man pronounced her first name, she whirled around   
in shock and disbelief. No, she shook her head. It couldn't be. It was   
impossible, he was---  
  
Her world froze as her eyes found the supposedly-dead man.  
  
Terren Macay, former partner in training and confidant, almost lover, and   
someone whom she thought had died twelve years ago, stood right before her,   
looking almost as healthy as even Skywalker did.  
  
"Terren?" she breathed, her voice strangely strangled in her throat.  
  
Around them, more couples had stopped dancing to watch the ongoing encounter.  
The moment that Luke felt the intensity of Mara's shock, he forgot their actual   
argument and moved to stand between her and 'Terren', instinctively trying to   
shield her. Mara's hand appeared around his wrist and kept him at her side.  
  
"Terren?" Mara repeated. "But... you're dead."  
  
The dark haired, handsome man performed a courtly bow, "I had to disappear in   
the shadows. I'm so sorry for lying to you. I never meant to hurt you."  
  
"Yet you did," Luke observed as he felt his friend's old pain resurface in her   
faster than he himself could summon up her legendary temper.  
  
"And you are?" the newcomer sneered in annoyance.  
  
"Hey, what's wrong here?" Talon's distinguished voice inquired, then pushed   
through the assembled guests. "Mara!," he rushed to her side. "What's wrong?   
You're as white as snow."  
  
"This," she tried to say, then licked her dry lower lip and tried again, "This   
is an old friend of mine, Terren Macay. Terren, this is Luke Skywalker" she   
indicated the Jedi, "and Talon Karrde," she nodded at the smuggler.  
  
"Luke Skywalker?" Terren almost reared back, his eyes narrowing. "The Jedi   
Master, Luke Skywalker?"  
  
"Yes," Luke replied cautiously. "Why?"  
  
The other smiled in a way that truly did not please Luke, "I'm just surprised to   
find Mara Jade with the great Jedi Master, that's all."  
  
"Actually, she's with me," Talon said assertively, wrapping a supporting arm   
around her slim hips.  
  
Luke noticed how Mara threw a silencing glare at her cohort before she refocused   
her attention on their surprise guest. "Where have you been all of these years?"   
she asked, some of her anger filling her voice once again.  
  
Uh-oh, Luke thought to himself. Whoever that Terren guy was, he was not on her   
favorite list at the moment.  
  
"Come on, Mara," the other tried to soothe her, "I thought that you had died   
with the Emperor on the second Death Star. I thought that this man had killed   
you," he jabbed a finger in the direction of the Jedi.  
  
Tarrintha Goule came forward at this and frowned at the scene before her. "Is   
anything the matter, gentle sir?"  
  
Luke used the distraction to check on his friend. *Will you be all right?*  
  
"I'm out of here," she replied, half-glaring at him in warning before she   
refocused on the other man. "It's not the right day to return amongst the   
living, Macay," she growled at him, then she was stalking away from them; Talon   
was right on her heels, trying to calm her down.  
  
The new comer gazed after her, his eyes filled with interest although his face   
was a perfect mask of regret, then he turned back toward Luke; his features   
changed completely. "You might have confounded her with your lies, Jedi," he   
warned him, pointing an accusing finger at him, "but you will soon find out that   
she is not as overcome as you think she is."  
  
"Mara is a free woman now," Luke replied as serenely as he could manage although   
his most ardent desire was to lash out at the man for what he had just done to   
his friend. "If one of you needs freedom from your common past, I believe that   
it is you."  
  
"We shall see," the younger man almost spat at him, then turned his back to him   
and disappeared in the gathered crowd.  
  
"What was that all about?" Tarrintha inquired, sidling closer to Luke once again   
just as Leia arrived on the 'crime' scene.  
  
"Is anything wrong?" his sister inquired, breaking the quiet that had settled   
over the gathered group.  
  
"Not anymore," Luke reassured her, then added to himself 'for the moment'.  
  
All of a sudden, he had a very bad feeling about the Cariba Conference. A new   
player had just scrambled the whole deck of the sabbacc game.  
  
Around them, dignitaries began to exchange gossip about what they had just seen   
and what it meant. Tarrintha, for her part, tried to convince him to leave with   
her like Mara and Talon had just done.  
*****  
"Who's this Terren Macay?" Talon asked Mara.   
  
They had found a small secluded spot in the outer courtyard of the casino, far   
away from any other living being. They sat beside each other on a small stone   
bench, surrounded by thick blue Zanitha bushes.  
  
"Someone from my past," she answered absently, obviously lost in thought.  
  
"Was he special?"  
  
"Yes," she slowly nodded, then seemed to come out of her thoughts and locked her   
brilliant gaze on his eyes. "Can we not talk about him right now."  
  
"Sorry. I didn't mean to pry." He leaned back on the stone bench.   
  
They lapsed into silence. The night breeze was cool and comfortable, rustling   
the branches of the trees. It was a quiet evening.  
  
Mara's emotions, were at odds to their surroundings. She was in turmoil. She was   
confused about Terren's return from the dead. She longed to talk to Skywalker;   
she felt a pang of regret when she remembered how Princess Tarrintha clung to   
the Jedi's arm. Feeling unusually glum, Mara gazed up at Talon Karrde. Life   
would be so much simpler if she could only fall in love with the man seated   
beside her. He was honorable, kind, generous, and she knew he would do   
everything within his power to make her happy.  
  
Talon returned her gaze and his expression softened. Her eyes explored the lines   
of his handsome face. He leaned toward Mara and asked, "Would it be too soon, if   
I kissed you?"  
  
After a brief pause, Mara shook her head.  
  
Talon closed the distance between them, lightly brushing her lips with his own.   
Mara put her arms around him, deepening the kiss. It was pleasant and   
comfortable. Her heart continued to beat its normal steady rhythm. Talon pulled   
her closer, growing more passionate. She tried to equal his fervor, but it was   
useless.   
  
He didn't make her blood stir.   
  
This was a mistake.  
  
Talon was the first to pull back. He gazed down at Mara and a small, sad smile   
appeared on his face. "Should I stop?"  
  
Mara placed a hand alongside his face and stroked his cheek, "I'm sorry, Talon.   
I don't deserve you."  
  
Talon laughed; the sound made her heart ache. "You're in love with someone   
else," he said matter-of-factly.  
  
Mara was about to protest when Luke Skywalker's face came unbidden in her mind;   
just being near him affected her more deeply than kissing Talon Karrde could.   
She lowered her face, her hair becoming a shield.  
  
Talon brushed her hair aside and nudged her chin upward to meet her gaze. "It's   
Terren, isn't it?" he asked.  
  
Mara's first impulse was to shake her head and deny his assumption, but she   
stopped herself in time, aware that if she denied his statement, she'd have to   
admit who had captured her heart. "I really don't want to talk about it. I'm   
sorry that I went out with you. I didn't mean to be cruel. I just thought..."  
  
"It's alright, Mara, really," the ever courteous trader smiled gently. "I'm   
willing to work this out with you. I'm a patient man. I'll wait for you."  
  
Mara shook her head, but Talon interrupted, "Think about it. Give it some time."  
  
Their eyes met and they gazed silently at each other for a long moment. Talon   
stood up and said, "Come on. I'll take you home."  
******  
The next day, Mara sat in her small office in the lower rent area of Coruscant.   
It was close enough to the center of commerce to serve her purposes, but not too   
costly that it cut too deeply into her profits. She even paid below market for   
this particular location, although how much of that was due to the neighboring   
office, she couldn't say.  
  
Just one door over, was the Central application office for the Retention of   
Restricted and Hazardous Life. Thanks to the dangerous species that constantly   
came in the area, she never ventured out into the corridor without her blaster   
in her hand.   
  
She had just finished filing the preliminary contract that Karrde had negotiated   
for her while he had been dancing with Princess Goule. Oddly, she didn't feel   
the satisfaction that she had expected. She thought about him, and decided that   
if he continued to pursue their relationship after last night's kiss, she would   
have to find a way to let him know it was just not going to work. Better to end   
it now, before their friendship suffered.  
  
As if freed by such thought, the image of Luke Skywalker came unbidden to her   
mind. Just how close had he gotten to Tarrintha Goule? And when would she learn   
that Skywalker's romantic affairs were none of her business? She remembered the   
way her skin had tingled when he had casually touched her while they had danced.   
She recalled how breathtakingly handsome he had been in his rarely worn dress   
attire. And she winced when she replayed the heated words they had exchanged on   
the dance floor.  
  
Then Terren Macay had shown up. It was as if he had risen from the dead. His   
reappearance in her life had been a shock, but she had begun to adjust the idea   
that he was still alive. He had once meant so much to her. There was a time when   
she would have said that she was in love with him. Granted, she had been young,   
but even the Emperor had approved of the match. Terren had been charming and   
handsome and had saved her life at least once when a job had gone sour.   
  
As if her thoughts of him had become real, her door, slid aside and in stepped   
Terren, looking as dashing as ever. "Good morning, Mara," he said with his   
sensually deep, baritone voice.  
  
For a long moment, she could only stare at him, unable to process her tumbling   
thoughts. What was he doing here? How had he find her? Where had he been all   
those years?   
  
By the time that she found her voice, he was standing across from her, looking   
expectantly in her direction. "Terren," she greeted as coolly as she could.  
  
"I've always loved the way you said my name. Your voice is so sexy."  
  
Mara meant to growl something less charming to him when she spotted the presence   
of a small, black oily mass slipping into the room through the air duct   
overhead. She recognized it as a Deverian Bloodbeast, one of her less-than-  
savory neighbors from the Application office. The slick animal slid down the   
ceiling, coming right toward Terren. She picked the blaster up off the desk and   
aimed. Terren's eyes grew wide and he stumbled back. She fired and the creature   
caught flame, burning quickly, and leaving a small black stain on the carpet   
where it fell.  
  
A man barged into her room and saw the blackened spot marking the man's   
Bloodbeast's demise. "Consider that a denial of your application for restricted   
lifeforms." Mara stated.   
  
The man saw the blaster in her hand and nodded. "Sorry about your carpet. " He   
backed away without another word.  
  
"Nice place you have here," Terren said, slowly sitting down in the chair.  
  
"It suits my purpose. Why did you come here, Terren?" she asked him gruffly.   
"Since you didn't bother to contact me before, I doubt that you were in an   
emergency to contact me again."  
  
"Do I need a reason to see you , Mara? I thought that we had progressed beyond   
that point long ago."  
  
"You said it," she spat, upset. "It was 'long ago'. I haven't heard from you in   
years, I moved on with my life, and now you expect me to just----"  
  
"Yeah, you moved on, with Skywalker," he spat out.  
  
Mara, who had slowly begun to rise out of her chair, stood up and locked her   
green glare on the man from her past. "Luke Skywalker is none of your business."  
  
"I beg to differ."  
  
"What??"  
  
"If he's a part of your life, then he is important to me as well." Terren   
answered, recovering his cool facade, then said suggestively. "Meet with me,   
please," he asked her more warmly. "Give me a chance to explain. For old times   
sakes?"  
  
Mara considered this and then nodded, "I'll meet you in an hour for lunch."  
  
"At the Grand Hotel?"  
  
"Fine," she dismissed him, turning her attention back toward her datadisk-filled   
desk. "Now I have some work to finish."  
  
Terren nodded, longingly looked at her for a long moment, then left the room.  
*****  
As Mara was walking toward the Grand Hotel, she remembered that she had   
forgotten to ask Karrde if the king had agreed to all of her terms. Not wanting   
to let someone else declare the contract invalid, Mara pulled out her comlink   
and contacted Karrde.   
  
"Karrde here."  
  
"Where are you?" she inquired rhetorically.  
  
"Checking up on me already, Mara? Why, I'm flattered."   
  
"Karrde," she warned him.  
  
"I'm at the office. Where are you?"  
  
"I'm on my way to the Grand Hotel."  
  
"The Grand Hotel?"  
  
"I'll tell you about it later. I just wanted to ask you..." her voice trailed   
off as she noticed that a group of thugs were converging on her path.  
  
"Mara? Is everything okay?"  
  
"Looks like trouble's heading my way. I gotta go. It seems that the Grand Hotel   
needs to improve their security."  
  
She cut the connection, and pulled out her blaster. They stalked toward her.   
There was no doubt of their malice or that she was their intended victim. They   
quickly formed a loose circle around her. She pointed her blaster at the nearest   
thug, a Riordian with only one eye. "Stay back," she warned.  
  
They laughed and lunged toward her. Mara shot off three blasts, falling the   
first attackers before the remaining two reached her.  
  
"You better be worth this, you little Sith whore," the nearest man swore, ducked   
under her roundhouse kick, then grabbed her from behind.   
  
She reflexively struggled against his grip, using her infallible techniques to   
escape him--- but no matter what maneuver she tried, she could not break free.  
  
"20,000 credits is not enough," a metallic voice echoed hollowly as the third   
one walked closer to them and peered closely at her. He was almost entirely made   
up of cybernetic parts. "I think she killed them," he said indicating the other   
three, then motioned to his acolyte to follow his lead while he stopped Mara's   
attempt to kick him. He didn't let go of her leg, then scooped her off her feet   
and led the three of them in a side alley. She reached out with the force to   
unhook her lightsaber hilt from her belt. The cybernetic man grabbed the hilt,   
preventing Mara from using the weapon. She felt the beginning of fear, but she   
pushed it ruthlessly out of her mind.   
  
However, despite her best training, in the Force or otherwise, Mara found   
herself unable to escape them.   
"Mara?!" Karrde called in the comlink once again, then, when he realized that   
she was in trouble, stashed the silent device in his breast pocket and ran   
toward the shelf where he had left his blaster holster.   
  
He quickly retrieved his weapon, then turned on his heel and ran toward the   
door---- he almost ran right into a black clad Jedi Skywalker. "What's wrong?"   
his friend inquired, obviously sensing how distraught he was.  
  
"It's Mara, she's in trouble," he explained quickly, catching his balance before   
he walked around the younger man and headed toward the nearest turbolift.   
  
Not surprisingly, Skywalker was right on his heels, unclipping his lightsaber   
from his belt. "I got her," he warned him, then pulled on his hand and led him   
toward the nearest balcony. "This way, it'll be quicker!"  
  
"But the lifts are that way!" Karrde objected as he ran after the Jedi.   
  
"We're not taking the lifts," the Jedi replied grimly as he hastened his step,   
then, taking his hand in a firm grip, exchanged a quick glance with him. "When I   
say, jump as high as you can," he barely panted.  
  
They had not slowed down; instead, they were running a little faster now that   
the younger man was pulling him after himself---- then the trader finally   
understood what the daredevil Jedi was planning. The open balcony was rushing   
closer and closer now.  
  
"Skywalker, I'm not---"  
  
"Three, two, one, now!" He jumped.  
  
In less time than he could think, Talon Karrde found himself air born and   
vaulting way over the high-railed balcony and on his way to a crash landing with   
the solid ground that was five meters under them. He reflexively shut his eyes   
while he tried to not scream in anguish--- then he felt himself slow down, just   
enough to understand that he would not crash on the ground.  
  
Beside him, Luke's feet had barely hit the ground that the younger man was   
already sprinting at full speed toward the infamous area of the Grand Hotel.   
Although shaken to the core by his new, flying experience, Karrde locked his   
knees together and forced himself to follow the Jedi.  
  
His lover was in danger.  
  
Together, they ran to her rescue.  
The thugs had dragged Mara all the way to a side alley where no one would bother   
them. Their strength was superhuman   
  
"What do you want?" she spat out for the tenth time since they had caught her.  
  
"Just a little fun." The man began to caress her face with his cold durasteel   
fingers. She yanked her head away, unable to move far enough because of the   
restraining grip of the other man.  
  
"They did not tell me how pretty you were."  
  
"Who?" Mara asked.  
  
The man's foul breath made her gag and she prepared to head-but him---- when a   
blaster shot rang out in the alley.   
  
The man in front of her slumped to the ground with a surprised grunt. Shocked   
yet relieved, Mara turned toward her would-be rescuer, expecting to see Luke, or   
even Karrde if he had found a way to come to her help this quickly...  
  
Instead, Terren Macay walked forward, blaster held high, as if he were   
invincible... once again.  
  
"You!" The man holding Mara cried out and he shifted her forward, using her body   
as a shield against this new assailant. Mara tried to drive her heel hard into   
the man's foot; he didn't budge anymore than the last time that she had tried   
that move on him.  
  
Terren silently leveled his blaster right at her---- and shot the man, narrowly   
missing her head. As the thug fell, he maintained his implacable grip on her   
arms and pulled her backwards with him.   
  
Her rescuer rushed forward, pulling her free. Mara, who had yet to understand   
both why she had been caught that easily by those men, as well as how Terren had   
just almost killed her, she stood up on shaky legs and looked down at the man.   
She picked up her lightsaber.  
  
"Mara," Terren pulled her to him, and before she could register his intent,   
kissed her hard on the lips.   
  
Grateful for his rescue, and still shaken by this encounter, she held onto him,   
relieved to be alive. His kiss also brought back a flood of memories. She began   
to return the kiss. It was pleasant and familiar, reminding her of the few   
things of her past that she missed.  
  
"Mara?" Luke Skywalker's voice intruded upon them.  
  
Startled, she pulled away. Terren smiled down at her.   
  
Luke was standing in the alley, shutting down his lightsaber. Behind him, Talon   
Karrde lowered his blaster; both men were visibly distraught by the current   
circumstances. Suddenly realizing what she had just done, Mara backed away from   
Terren. She could not do that to Talon.  
  
"It seems we came a little too late," Talon said dryly.  
  
"Thanks for coming," she nodded at them.  
  
Luke stepped forward his eyes inspecting Mara's face. "Are you hurt?"  
  
"I'm fine," she reassured him.   
  
His expression became shuttered when Terren put his arm around Mara, "She's just   
fine, Jedi."  
  
Displeased by the arrogance that she could now detect in her rescuer, Mara   
shrugged out of his embrace and said: "Let's get out of here before more of   
those thugs come after us."  
  
After exchanging a suspicious glare with each other, Luke and Terren followed,   
and Karrde hurried after them to catch up with his wayward companion.  
TBC in part 3  
  
Written 2003 


	3. Part 3: Relationships

Divided Heart  
  
Part 3: Relationships  
  
By SJ and Rhea (skyjade@globetrotter.net and jediknight@mail2master.com)  
  
05-04-03/  
  
____________________  
  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything   
  
belongs to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage   
  
for more details.  
  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and   
  
accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my   
  
friend!  
  
_____________________  
  
They had almost reached the main street when Mara stumbled on suddenly weak   
  
legs. Luke, who had sensed her faltering, hastened his steps and caught her   
  
just before she truly crumpled to her knees. Talon, who had been walking at   
  
her side, whirled around in shock, then searched Luke's eyes, at first in   
  
distrust, then gratitude.   
  
"Are you all right?" Talon inquired, moving closer to help her up.   
  
Aware that it was not his place to help his friend in such an intimate   
  
fashion, Luke reluctantly backed away and allowed him to assist her.  
  
"I'm fine," Mara nodded, then shrugged herself free of Karrde's arm once she   
  
was on her feet.  
  
"I think that we should let a medic make that determination to ascertain   
  
this," the trader commented as he eyed her warily.  
  
Luke quickly checked on her through the Force.  
  
The young woman glared at both of them in turn. "I don't need to go to a   
  
medcenter."   
  
"Yeah, she's fine," Terren added casually as he walked past Luke to stand   
  
close to Mara once again. "She's taken far worse before."  
  
Although Luke knew that his friend had indeed sustained much more impairing   
  
injuries in her past job, he still frowned in disagreement as he felt how the   
  
other dismissed these experiences as inconsequential for Mara.  
  
If not for his Jedi training, the farmboy in him would have jumped in to   
  
defend his friend from such mean comments. Nothing excused her pain.  
  
Even as she felt a sudden surge of anger from behind her, Mara shot the over-  
  
confident Terren an annoyed gaze... then nodded in agreement when she   
  
understood that he had only meant to state a fact. It was true, she conceded.   
  
She 'had' once been much more wounded than she had been during this latest   
  
altercation, and she had not faltered back then, she slightly rebuked   
  
herself, her old pride taking it hard today.  
  
She used to be able to knock this kind of scum flat on their ass without   
  
breaking a sweat, she reminded herself. She even used to pull herself out of   
  
jams without requiring the assistance of a single man.  
  
Yet today, no less than three men had come to her rescue.   
  
She was softening, she thought glumly to herself. Softening, and getting   
  
old...  
  
All of a sudden, she was no longer in the mood to meet with Terrrn at the   
  
Grand Hotel, and she was not sure that she could stomach Karrde's overly   
  
solicitous behavior either.  
  
Aware that her best friend was also with her at the moment, she briefly   
  
turned around and caught Luke's eyes; she gave him a pleading look that went   
  
unnoticed by the two other men, who were currently engaged in a discussion   
  
about her current weakness.  
  
Luke acknowledged her with a slight inclination of his head, "I think that   
  
what Mara needs is some space," he commented, cutting in the heating-up   
  
conversation. "Talon," he said, turning his exquisite blue gaze toward her   
  
suitor, "would you contact the authorities and tell them what happened here?   
  
Terren," he continued, addressing her friend. "Can you inform Hotel security   
  
about their need to post more guards in the lobby?"  
  
"And what will you do, Jedi?" Terren asked, his eyes darkened by his open   
  
hatred for the Jedi.  
  
Mara frowned upon seeing that. She used to bear a similarly-clouded glare,   
  
she reminded herself, but it had been wrong.  
  
"I'm going to see her home," Luke stated so calmly that even Mara would not   
  
consider arguing with him at the moment.   
  
All of a sudden, The Force was a palpable presence around him, making him   
  
more impressive, his full-power shone through him. Everyone understood that   
  
they were currently dealing with the Jedi Master.  
  
Terren opened his mouth to protest, but seemed to reconsider as he met Luke's   
  
gaze once again. In the end, he remained silent.   
  
"Thank you, Terren and Talon, for being there for me," she said in the   
  
silence, then offered her arm to Luke. Silently, the two younger friends   
  
resumed their walk toward the main street.  
  
Beside Mara, Talon reluctantly nodded and left them; Terren, for his part,   
  
remained behind and silently watched the two Jedi as they left the alleyway.  
  
****  
  
Skywalker and Jade walked away from the alley in silence. The Jedi continued   
  
to try to read Mara, but her shields were tighter than ever. She appeared to   
  
be lost in thought and only after they had walked to the nearest landing   
  
platform and secured a private air taxi, did she finally meet his eyes.  
  
"Thanks for the rescue," she said, her voice subdued.   
  
Her demeanor worried Luke. "Are you alright?" he asked as they took their   
  
seats in the open topped car.  
  
"What?" she asked in a distracted voice, "Oh, those thugs." She snorted, "I   
  
would have taken care of them eventually."  
  
Luke keyed in the command for Mara's residence and leaned back in his seat,   
  
in order to view her more closely. "You just seem off somehow."  
  
She shrugged.   
  
"Who is this Terren Macay?"  
  
Mara's shields briefly dipped and Luke could sense the conflicting emotions   
  
churning within her. "He's an old friend," she replied.  
  
"He did seem very friendly," Luke commented wryly.  
  
Mara's shot him a look and said heatedly, "What's it to you?"  
  
"I don't think it's that unusual for a friend to ask another friend about   
  
seing them engaged in a heated kiss."  
  
Mara lowered her gaze and muttered, "I don't know if I'd call it heated."  
  
"Whatever," Luke grunted and then turned his head away.   
  
A short moment later, the air taxi settled onto the platform that was nearest   
  
to Mara's residence. He refused to meet her gaze.  
  
They disembarked and were well inside the corridors when she realized that   
  
something. "I'm surprised that you are still on Coruscant," she admitted,   
  
locking her emerald gaze with his blue one.   
  
"I was scheduled to leave today," he nodded at her, "but after I checked on   
  
the school, I didn't see any emergency to leave yet."  
  
"Ah," she nodded, "and was there any reason for you to remain on Coruscant   
  
for longer than necessary?" she inquired even as images of a rich, blond-  
  
haired princess filled her mind.   
  
As she had meant to do, her question unbalanced her cool-headed friend and he   
  
blushed as boyishly as ever. "Hmmm, well," he fumbled, then darted a gaze   
  
toward her upcoming corridor. "I know that I can't order you to visit a   
  
medcenter for scratches," he said instead, completely avoiding her topic,   
  
"but can you at least promise me that you will stay home for the rest of the   
  
day?"  
  
"And what would be in it for me, Jedi?" she asked him. As she gazed in his   
  
earnest blue eyes, her defensive temper dissolved as quickly as it had risen   
  
when he had changed their topic.   
  
As if aware that she was suddenly, flirting with him, Luke studiously avoided   
  
her gaze. "You've been through a shock," he reminded her sternly. "Remember   
  
the last time that it happened? It took you hours to recover from it   
  
completely."  
  
When she had learnt about the truth between Vader and Skywalker, she thought,   
  
then winced as she remembered how unbalanced she had been for almost ten   
  
hours before she had been able to recover her composure. "That isn't the   
  
same," she grumbled, annoyed that he would bring up such an unpleasant memory   
  
when she was trying to make him see that there was more to her than a cold-  
  
hearted friend...  
  
And for what reason?, she asked herself as they rounded the last corner of   
  
her corridor. She was not in love with Luke, was she? He tested her temper   
  
too many times for that, and yet... she definitely was jealous of the   
  
dignitary...  
  
Her thoughts fell away as she saw who was waiting for them just outside of   
  
her quarters.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Luke inquired the moment that he identified Terren   
  
Macay.   
  
"The Hotel says thanks, but no thanks," he slurred at him in disgust, "so I   
  
thought that I would check on Mara."  
  
"She's fine," Luke answered even as he stepped slightly in front of his   
  
friend, as if to defend her--- then jumped when Mara pinched him in the ribs   
  
with the Force. He had overstepped his boundary with that defensive attitude.  
  
He reluctantly stood there as she walked past him and closer to the man from   
  
her past.   
  
"I will need some rest, but otherwise, I'm okay, thanks to you," she said   
  
warmly.   
  
"I wish that I had known earlier that you were in trouble," the other replied   
  
in kind, then stepped closer and delicately ran a finger down Mara's smooth   
  
cheek. "I was worried about you."  
  
Unable to watch the other's open attempts to court his Mara, Luke rolled his   
  
eyes in a 'spare me' fashion. "You sure didn't seem worried about her well-  
  
being 'after' it was over," he commented acidly.  
  
Earning himself a most unpleasant glare from his friend. "Weren't you saying   
  
that you had to check on your Jedi students?" she commented, implicitly   
  
warning him to leave before it got any worse between the two of them.  
  
*Are you sure?* he asked her, suddenly having a bad feeling about his leaving   
  
her alone with that man.  
  
Even though he only meant to be open with her about his worries, he only   
  
managed to irate her. *Since when am I unable to take care of myself,   
  
farmboy?* she asked him angrily, then turned her back to him and punched in   
  
her key code.   
  
"Right," he reluctantly nodded, "I'll check on you later then," he still told   
  
her, then he turned heels and headed toward the turbolift once again.  
  
As he waited for it to return to Mara's level, he dimly wondered from where   
  
his thought about 'his' Mara had come from.  
  
He couldn't be jealous of either Karrde or that new guy, could he? Nah, he   
  
shook his head to himself, there was nothing more than friendship between him   
  
and Mara, and yet...  
  
He 'had' considered telling her that she would get 'him' for the day if she   
  
would behave and stay in her quarters to rest.   
  
His mind filled with suddenly puzzling questions about his relationship with   
  
Mara Jade, he stepped inside the crowded lift and selected his own floor.  
  
Back at Mara's place, the young woman tried hard to cover her confusion at   
  
her friend's attitude from the man who had come in with her. What did Luke   
  
feel for her?, she wondered as she took a moment to freshen herself. First,   
  
he wasn't even picking up on her attempts to see if there was more between   
  
them then mere friendship, and the next, he was acting so jealous that she   
  
had to warn him off of Terren's back before they came to insults once again.  
  
Jedi, she shook her head in annoyance, then stepped out of her 'fresher.   
  
When she returned to the living room, her companion was attentively studying   
  
what little mementos she had gathered in her quarters on Coruscant. "I see   
  
that you are even closer to Skywalker than I had heard," he commented   
  
disapprovingly, then turned around to face her. "He's got you completely   
  
subjugated, hasn't he?"  
  
Subjugated?, Mara frowned even as she planted her fists on her hips. "I will   
  
tell you only one more time, Terren," she warned him dangerously. "Stay out   
  
of my relationship with Luke Skywalker. He isn't the Emperor, nor my Jedi   
  
Master or lover. We're just friends."  
  
The other man might have replied to her, but he took her warning at face   
  
value and remained silent. "Nice place you got here," he said next.  
  
"Cut the crap, Terren," she growled, walking inside the living room before   
  
she sat on her couch as she felt her legs weaken yet again. Luke was right,   
  
her gentle self pointed out to her; it would take her a few hours to recover   
  
from that new bout of shock. "Where were you all those years?" she inquired   
  
out loud. "Why do you come back now instead of when you first heard about me   
  
and the Jedi, which you have obviously heard about," she said meaningfully.  
  
For a long moment, her former friend paced the other side of her living room   
  
as if he were a caged animal, then finally sighed as if in reluctance. "I   
  
couldn't come back. I was in an Imperial enclave."  
  
"And why did everyone pretend that you were dead?" she asked him mercilessly.   
  
If he had been in an imperial enclave, then why had he been hidden---  
  
"Because I was," he sighed glumly. "The Emperor needed me to die, I was too   
  
well known... yet he knew that I could be an asset for him if I were to   
  
disappear. What I didn't know was that he would send me on a world where no   
  
one left... until recently."  
  
"What did you do there?" she asked him next, trying to put his puzzle back   
  
into place.  
  
The handsome, brown-haired, brown-eyes man came closer and sat at the   
  
opposite end of the couch. "I was keeping the governing bodies faithful to   
  
the Emperor. Since I was not alive in any records, they could not track me   
  
down; I was his ace up his sleeve, keeping his training facilities at peak   
  
efficiency."  
  
'His ace up his sleeve,' Mara thought, remembering how she too had used that   
  
expression to describe her role for the Emperor.  
  
So long ago, she reflected, filled with a bitter-sweet feeling. It was almost   
  
as if it had been another life... another Mara... Back then, her days had   
  
been filled with activities that were so very different. She had been content   
  
at that time, yet had nurtured a dream. Now, though, her dream was fulfilled,   
  
so she had nothing left to hope for... and her dream had not turned out to be   
  
what she had thought it would be.  
  
Trading was much more bureaucratic than she had ever imagined. Nowadays, she   
  
was buried under tons of datacards and reports that she 'had' to read in   
  
order to secure the best deals or acquire prized contracts. Such a far cry   
  
from the exciting, vivifying experience of fighting for a cause, for...  
  
For a master.  
  
"I miss it too," Terren commented, as if reading her thoughts. "Sometimes, I   
  
consider registering in a military unit, or even intelligence, but with my   
  
Imperial background, I know that they would not trust me."  
  
Trust, she paused once again. Did the Republic trust her?.. Well, maybe not,   
  
she thought seriously, but at least Luke did.  
  
"I've come here to offer you a deal," he informed her, cutting in her   
  
thoughts. He had inconspicuously edged closer to her while she had been   
  
thinking.   
  
"What deal?" she inquired reflexively---- then could only stare at him in   
  
shock when he lunged forward and plastered his familiar lips on her own   
  
before he laid her down on her back against the arm-rest.   
  
"Come with me, give us another chance" he offered her, then resumed their   
  
kiss.  
  
As if unleashed by her memories of her past with Terren, her other good   
  
memories of her life as Emperor's Hand surged forth and filled her with an   
  
aching that only Terren's kiss and comprehension seemed to soothe.   
  
Thus, despite her feelings for Luke Skywalker, and despite what she had begun   
  
to explore with Talon Karrde, she abandoned herself to the plans that Terren   
  
was now sharing with her.  
  
Plans of adventure and danger, like in the old days.   
  
******  
  
Back at his place, Luke sat on his balcony... and considered what had just   
  
happened between him and his best friend.  
  
He was naturally aware that he had upset Mara with his protective attitude.   
  
He had wanted to protect her from that worrying newcomer, but she was his   
  
friend.  
  
He could not stop himself from protect his friends, and especially not her,   
  
he admitted to himself. Ever since they had crossed path, she had held a   
  
special place in his heart, had almost instantly rivaled with his sister's   
  
place even when the red-head had still been talking about wanting to kill   
  
him. He himself had always known that she would never kill him, but even more   
  
important, he had somehow always known that they would be best friends...   
  
Mara could understand him better than anybody else, and she accepted him as   
  
he was, farmboy 'and' Jedi. In return, he was there for her when almost   
  
everyone was still distrusting her, and he could appreciate 'all' the aspects   
  
of her personality.  
  
Sadly though, he was aware that she thought that he had taken everything from   
  
her, forcing her to accept a new, also happy, but different life.  
  
A life that she had not chosen.   
  
And now she was with Terren Macay.   
  
What was he himself doing here?, he finally asked himself glumly. Why wasn't   
  
he on his way to his x-wing, and back to his Jedi 'praxeum' where his heart   
  
would stop playing tricks on him for a woman that would never have any   
  
interest in him?  
  
Because he couldn't leave and abandon her in the arms of another, and   
  
especially in those of that unsettling ex-Imperial. Seeing her in the arms of   
  
Talon Karrde had been a shock for him, but he had accepted the situation,   
  
knowing that his friend Talon was a good man and would be a good match for   
  
the younger woman, although he could be her father. However, the situation   
  
was totally different with that ex-imperial guy.   
  
Mara had once loved Terren, and yet, he could feel that this man did not have   
  
her best interests in mind. Kind of like how he had felt when Lando had been   
  
dating 'his' Mara. This time though, the relationship was tainted by a darker   
  
edge to the Force.   
  
Unless the edge was only his jealousy that those men could kiss his dear   
  
friend when he himself could barely share a room with her without raising her   
  
hackles after five minutes.   
  
Who was he kid----  
  
His sister's presence suddenly entered his awareness. Relieved that the   
  
torment of his thoughts had come to an end, he rushed as fast as could toward   
  
his main door and opened it before she signaled her presence. "Leia!" he   
  
smiled, then hugged her tightly to himself. "It's so good to see you," he   
  
whispered in her hair.  
  
"It's good to see you too, in a more informal setting," she returned,   
  
surprised by his warm welcome yet riding it without an hitch. "I was worried   
  
that you were still sore at me for yesterday. I was hoping that I could catch   
  
you before you leave again."  
  
"I'm not leaving yet," he answered, pulling away from her. He silently   
  
invited her to come inside.   
  
"You aren't?" she raised an eyebrow, perplexed, then smiled even more, "then   
  
can you join us for that family dinner we talked about?" she offered him   
  
seriously.   
  
"I'll even cook for you if you want," he nodded in agreement. "Where are you   
  
off to?"  
  
"Home," she smiled at him. "Wanna join me?"  
  
******  
  
Later that evening, after spending delightful hours of comradeship with the   
  
whole Solo household, the three adults were finally left alone.   
  
Ever since 'Uncle Luke's arrival, they had been swapping news and gossips   
  
with adults and children alike as they had first prepared their evening meal,   
  
then had shared it. The mood had been very convivial so far.   
  
However, with dinner over, bedtime had come around for the children. They   
  
were thoroughly exhausted by their uncle's impromptu visit, yet they were   
  
also so excited by it that they tried to sneak out again.  
  
"No, young lady," Han rebuked their daughter, "It's late and you have school   
  
tomorrow." He stood up and herded both twins back to their bed. "Now off to   
  
bed with you two, and sleep, that's an order."  
  
"Can you read us a story?" Jacen inquired while he tiredly rubbed his left   
  
eye with his fist.   
  
Beside him, Jaina gave a mighty yawn.  
  
"Alright, but just one," Han said as he escorted them from the room.  
  
"Don't worry," Leia mischievously whispered to her brother, "they'll be   
  
asleep in five minutes, if Han can keep them in bed long enough."  
  
"They sure look about ready to fall asleep on their feet," he half-whispered   
  
in answer, then smiled at his sister, "Does it make you wonder how we might   
  
have been as youngsters if we had grown up together?"  
  
Leia's good mood sobered slightly. "All the time," she nodded slowly as she   
  
studied her brother for the fiftieth time since he had come home with her.   
  
They were so different, she thought glumly, so impregnated by their two   
  
different backgrounds. Even when she was wearing casual wear with her hair   
  
down, she was a dignitary all the way to the tip of her nails, whereas Luke's   
  
rough, physical life on Tatooine and then as a Jedi, clung to him like a   
  
shadow. Even when Luke wore his best fineries, or when Leia attempted to be   
  
casual, they still seemed worlds apart.   
  
Fortunately though, their hearts had bridged that distance. Nowadays, they   
  
were able to share a genuine bond because of the time that they had spent in   
  
the Rebellion. Without their common experience, she reflected not for the   
  
first time since she had discovered her brother's identity, they might have   
  
never bridged the gap of their upbringings.   
  
"Leia?" her brother inquired, breaking the companionable silence that had   
  
settled between them, "Can I ask you a personal question?"  
  
"Of course," she encouraged. She had so few occasions to spend family time   
  
with her brother that she was overjoyed that he had decided to discuss   
  
personal topics instead of Republic issues. Sometimes, she thought to   
  
herself, she had the feeling that she hardly knew him.  
  
"When you finally accepted that you were in love with Han," he began,   
  
somewhat hesitant, "how... did you know that your love was real?"  
  
While Leia had grown used to expect surprising questions from her slightly-  
  
estranged brother, she admitted to herself that his question truly surprised   
  
her this time, especially considering how he had dedicated his life to the   
  
Jedi. She wasn't quite sure why she was startled by it though; she had   
  
certainly worked hard to find someone for him to love. Had she finally   
  
succeeded? Had Tarrintha Goule touched his heart?  
  
"Well," she began, shifting on her seat until she could meet his blue gaze,   
  
"don't tell Han," she warned him playfully, "but upon later reflection, once   
  
I knew how deeply I loved him, I realized that I had always felt something   
  
for him from the start, even in the Death Star."  
  
"You did?" Luke's voice was somewhat surprised.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"But you were furious at him that day," the edges of his mouth turned   
  
downward in a frown.  
  
"I was mad at the galaxy, period," she reminded him more seriously, "There   
  
was the Rebellion, Alderaan..." She took a moment to let the fading memories   
  
of her doomed home planet evaporate from her conscious mind. "However," she   
  
continued, "Han caught me unprepared with his bravado and roguish style. He   
  
never backed down. He never wavered in his belief in me, in us. My emotions   
  
were so strong around him. I always wanted to lash out at him, to hurt him."   
  
Leia laughed, "You know, there were times that I really thought I wanted to   
  
kill Han."  
  
Luke's eyes flew to her face and he listened to her next words intently.  
  
"I never really hated him though," she continued thoughtfully. "Instead, I   
  
realized that I was simply denying how I really felt. They sometimes say that   
  
hate and love closely relate. I think that was true. When, I saw him risk his   
  
own safety to help you, then when he ran off after those troopers..."  
  
"I do remember not liking the way that you were looking at him," Luke nodded,   
  
speculatively. His mind was racing. Leia had wanted to kill Han? The image of   
  
Mara Jade holding a blaster at him on Myrkr flashed though his head.  
  
"And when he came back to save you, I was done for," she finished wistfully,   
  
"He had his quirks and flaws..."  
  
"But he had a generous heart," they both concluded.  
  
"Awww, and I thought that my good looks were what had captured your heart,"   
  
their friend drawled from the entrance of the dining room. "If this gets out,   
  
your Highness, you will ruin my reputation," he teased her.  
  
"Then we'll discuss this in a committee, nerf-herder," she smiled back at him   
  
as he sat down beside her and pecked her cheek.  
  
On her left, Luke's eyebrows drew together as he smirked in amusement.   
  
"Okay," he began more seriously. "I know about the Highness thing, and I sure   
  
remember the first time that we heard the nerf-herder comment, but what's   
  
with the committee thing?"  
  
Han and Leia exchanged an amused gaze, then just smiled at Luke. "A very   
  
private matter, Kid," Han winked at him. "So now, how long will you be   
  
staying on Coruscant?"  
  
"Can I count you in for the more informal dinner that I have arranged with   
  
the Caribans? I'll make sure that Tarrintha is there," she said before her   
  
brother could answer Han's question.  
  
Unlike the smile that she was expecting though, Luke didn't show any sign of   
  
eagerness toward the princess. She frowned in confusion at the slightly   
  
unhappy gaze that her brother gave her. She was unsure if it were due to her   
  
question, or to their joke about discussing things in a committee.  
  
"I'll be there," he finally nodded. "Will Mara attend as well?"  
  
"I think so. I've invited her," Leia answered, a slightly puzzled expression   
  
scrossing her face.  
  
"I overheard Talon Karrde saying that he was planning on coming," Han Solo   
  
replied.  
  
Luke frowned further.  
  
"What's wrong?" she asked him this time, "Isn't that good news? I guess that   
  
means that your friend will be here too. She could provide moral support for   
  
you and Tarrintha."  
  
"Yeah. Great," Luke said unenthusiastically.  
  
Han and Leia exchanged looks as the Jedi turned away and peered out at the   
  
Coruscant skyline from the large window in the living room. The sun had set   
  
long ago and the numerous lights now glittered like a thousand stars   
  
scattered across the buildings.  
  
"I think I'll head home now. See you tomorrow." Luke said.  
  
"Sure, kid," Han said.  
  
Leia watched him leave in silence. "What's wrong with him?" she asked once   
  
she was alone with Han.  
  
"I don't know." Han shrugged, "but I do know that he's not exactly thrilled   
  
at the prospect of having Tarrintha Goule as his date."  
  
"But that makes no sense. Why else would he ask me about love if..." her   
  
voice trailed off. "If he isn't in love with Tarrintha, then who...?"  
  
Han shrugged again and smiled lopsidedly at his wife. "I don't know if even   
  
Luke knows the answer to that one, sweetheart."  
  
******  
  
TBC in part 4: Revelations 


	4. part 4: Stepping out of the Shadows

Divided Heart   
  
Part 4: Stepping Out of the Shadows  
  
By SJ and Rhea Jediknight(skyjade@globetrotter.net and   
  
jediknight@mail2master.com)   
  
05-04-03/   
  
____________________   
  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs   
  
to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more   
  
details.  
  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702   
  
Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and   
  
accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my   
  
friend!   
  
Rhea: Thanks for the collaboration, SJ! :)  
  
_____________________   
  
The next day, Talon Karrde sat across from Luke Skywalker at an out of the   
  
way cantina. The music was low and the booths deep and private. Talon sipped   
  
from a frothy mug of ale and Luke watched him with an intensity that made   
  
him feel uncomfortable. Sensing his unease, the Jedi smiled slightly,   
  
immediately putting Talon at ease.  
  
"How's it going between you and Mara?" Luke asked in the silence.  
  
Karrde raised an eyebrow, still interested about Mara and this Jedi's odd   
  
relationship. "That's why I asked you to meet me here."  
  
"Is she alright?" he asked instantly.  
  
"Relax," Karrde comforted him, waving him down with his right hand. "She's   
  
fine. The only thing wrong with her is me."  
  
Luke frowned at that but remained silent.  
  
Karrde sighed forlornly. "I wanted to talk to you because I don't think   
  
there is anyone else alive that understands Mara more than you do. You're   
  
her friend. You've always believed in her, your faith in her has never   
  
wavered."  
  
"Well," Skywalker rubbed his neck in obvious unease, "I don't know if she   
  
would agree with me considering...," he paused, letting the trader hang onto   
  
his next words... that never came. "But she's never let me down; she's my   
  
best friend."  
  
Karrde nodded, "Then I was right to come to you."  
  
"Probably. What's the problem?"  
  
"Terren Macay," Karrde grimaced, then noticed how the Jedi mirrored his sour   
  
mood at the mention of the new suitor in Mara's life. "I think that she's in   
  
love with him."  
  
Even though Luke had been privy to Mara's feelings while she had been with   
  
the stranger, Talon's words stabbed right through his heart. He concentrated   
  
on maintaining his breathing, but the smuggler noticed the effect his words   
  
had on him. "I know," he finally nodded, resigned. "I have a bad feeling   
  
about him too."  
  
"I've had Ghent research his past," Karrde continued seriously. "and the   
  
little that I've found does nothing to reassure me."  
  
"I know that he worked with her back in her days as the Emperor's Hand," he   
  
commented slowly. His friend's statement had really hit him hard, but why   
  
did this knowledge hurt so much?, he wondered. Was it because he knew that   
  
Mara would be lying to herself if she went on with that guy? Or because he   
  
was jealous?..  
  
In front of him, Talon nodded thoughtfully. "That would explain a lot. I'll   
  
direct the kid toward the old Imperial archives then, see what he can come   
  
up with."  
  
Luke nodded. He rose blindly to his feet. "I have to go."  
  
He left before Talon Karrde could prevent the Jedi's departure. The smuggler   
  
watched Skywalker head toward the exit, disappearing into the crowd. He   
  
returned his attention to his ale. Although he wasn't in the habit of   
  
drinking, his his love life was making him change his mind about not   
  
consuming alcohol until a deal was settled.  
  
Walking swiftly down the streets of Capitol City, Luke paid no attention to   
  
either his surroundings or his direction.  
  
Mara was in love with someone else.  
  
While he had hoped that he would someday witness his best friend fall in   
  
love with a man, he had never thought that it would happen this way... nor   
  
that he would find the news unpleasant.  
  
When Lando had courted his beautiful friend, Luke had felt protective of her   
  
not because of he harbored deeper feelings for her but because he had known   
  
Lando's reputation. He had wanted to save her from that kind of pointless   
  
romance.  
  
Then, there had been Karrde, two days ago. He had been surprised, even   
  
somewhat glad that his friend could find a good man like Karrde, yet he had   
  
known that it wouldn't work. There was just something missing in Mara's   
  
eyes, in her sense, that made Luke believe that the relationship was doomed.  
  
However, Terren Macay was a totally different deal and he was forced to   
  
consider what he was feeling for his ex-personal nemesis, and wonder why she   
  
had come to mean so much to him. He didn't want to see Mara fall for that   
  
guy, he admitted to himself as he tried to block the image of Mara kissing   
  
the stranger again.  
  
No, he would prevent Mara from ending up with Terren. Luke didn't want to   
  
abandon her to that man's cold, insensitive care, nor did he trust him.   
  
There was just something about that man, he reflected. He considered warning   
  
Mara through the Force, but decided against it when he became aware that   
  
sending a mental message would irritate her worse than she already was.  
  
Still, he sighed grimly as he made up his mind about his next destination,   
  
his rescue of the previous day had been a tad too well-timed for a non-Jedi.   
  
The thugs had known too much about Mara to be mere ruffians of lower   
  
Coruscant.  
  
Then, there was his reappearance at Mara's door, and his uncaring comments   
  
about her distraught status...  
  
Something was going on, and he decided that he would figure it out. He   
  
headed toward the palace, and Mara's quarters.  
  
*****  
  
"Since when do you refuse to test your flying skills against an equal?"   
  
Terren asked her when she turned down his suggestion for the day.  
  
"Since I'm in business and in the middle of sensitive negotiations," she   
  
retorted, then picked up a new pad with more information about production   
  
statistics of Schillium. It was a very unstable element, yet when properly   
  
channeled, generated more energy than a Supernova. It was the main resource   
  
of the Cariban territory; and would be a source of great revenue for Mara as   
  
well.  
  
"And how much fun is trading?" Terren asked.  
  
Mara meant to retort something archly when he continued, "Besides, you're   
  
making up that trading excuse. If it were that important to you, you would   
  
have worked on it yesterday too."  
  
"Touche," Mara admitted, then sighed wearily. True, she did not need to   
  
study Schillium facts anymore than she already had, and she had until the   
  
evening to wait before she could take another stab at those contracts with a   
  
high dignitary of Cariba. Still, she did not 'exactly' want to spend the   
  
whole day with Terren either. While he did relieve her of the tension of the   
  
past days, she had also quickly realized that he really reminded her too   
  
much of a past that she hoped to forget. He made her feel like the person   
  
she had been before she had met Luke: unhappy, selfish, and negative.  
  
While she had often rebuked her best friend about his farmboy naivety and   
  
too big a heart, she was now acutely aware that she really loved those   
  
characteristics of his. They brightened her day whenever they were together,   
  
and they made him charmingly unique. And very much unlike the man who was   
  
currently slouching in the couch next to her.  
  
He was an arrogant, self-important man, so he wanted a challenge, she slyly   
  
thought as she made up her mind about the day's activities. She'd prove to   
  
him that he wasn't the best at everything.  
  
"All right," she finally agreed with him, "but we're not going to fly. I'm   
  
curious to see if you're still as good as ever with a blaster."  
  
As she expected, the self-confident man wilted inwardly at the mention of   
  
his less than perfect aiming skills. He was good, but she was his better and   
  
he had always known it.  
  
"Deal?" she offered him maliciously.  
  
The other took a moment to consider, offered his hand for a shake.  
  
She gripped it--- and he pulled her swiftly against him in a possessive   
  
kiss.  
  
Despite some of his flaws, she admitted that his assertiveness was   
  
appealing, making her remember what had appealed to her when she first knew   
  
him.  
  
They remained locked in a kiss for a long while. Later, they went on her   
  
balcony, hailed a cab, and left for the shooting range of the Manarai   
  
mountain, the toughest, most challenging range of the planet.  
  
Unbeknown to Mara, Luke Skywalker came by her apartments a few minutes   
  
later. She was gone, already too busy talking weapons with her companion to   
  
feel his presence.  
  
*****  
  
Back at the palace, Luke slowly walked away from Mara's apartment. He had   
  
missed her. He had known that the two of them had been together just moments   
  
before, and he had sensed Mara's confusion about Terren. She was both bored,   
  
and yet simultaneously attracted to him.  
  
Was it that difficult to understand? he wanted to ask her, then caught   
  
himself and blushed at his own display of jealousy. What was wrong with him?   
  
Why was he reacting the way he was. Sure, he wanted to protect his friend,   
  
even though she was more than capable of handling herself, but there was   
  
more to-----  
  
He had reached the turbolift bank and was waiting to board when the door   
  
opened and the last person he wanted to see at the moment stood in the open   
  
lift.  
  
"Hello, Luke," the princess of Cariba said, as if she had been expecting to   
  
find him there.  
  
He also noticed that she was on a first name basis now. He decided to   
  
deliberately put more distance between them. Unable to do anything else,   
  
Luke stepped inside the turbolift.  
  
"Princess," he bowed his head in respect, then, when she failed to step out   
  
of the lift, stepped in and reluctantly joined her inside. "I thought that   
  
you would be with your father's delegation, visiting the city."  
  
"I did that on my own yesterday," she shook her well-cared blond head   
  
slowly, then smiled gently at him. "I was hoping to catch up with you   
  
today."  
  
Aware that they were not alone in the lift, and that the princess was   
  
looking at him as if he were flirting with her, Luke affected an attitude   
  
that he had come to think of as his Jedi Master mask. "For which reason?"  
  
The doors opened again, and more dignitaries stepped inside, forcing the   
  
woman to press suggestively against him. She didn't complain about the   
  
set-up and clung to him as if to catch up on the past day that he hadn't   
  
seen her.  
  
"Well, when I heard that you were still on planet, I thought that we could   
  
see each other sooner," she said, not paying attention at all to the fact   
  
that Coruscant's worst kind of gossip spreaders were surrounding them at the   
  
moment.  
  
"Sooner?" he frowned, then tried to take a step away from her. It didn't   
  
work, he was already pressed against an Ithorian ambassador. "I, huh, had we   
  
agreed on another meeting?" he queried, some of his farmboy confusion   
  
slipping past his more rigid composure.  
  
"That's what the President told me," the younger woman nodded flirtatiously.  
  
Emperor's Bones! Luke thought instantly even as he prayed for the ride to be   
  
over, Leia had completely misinterpreted his question the previous night and   
  
had contacted the princess to arrange---  
  
The lift finally reached Leia's floor. Freedom was just in sight. "You'll   
  
excuse me, your Highness, this is my floor."  
  
To his annoyance, the other followed him. "It's also mine." Catching up with   
  
him, she took hold of his elbow and escorted him down the corridor and all   
  
the way to his sister's quarters.  
  
Aware that he would soon be trapped with the other woman and his confused   
  
sister, Luke tried to think of an excuse to leave the princess until the   
  
upcoming official dinner.  
  
Thanks to his confusion about Mara, and his awareness of her emotional state   
  
with her suitor, his clever mind remained a blank. He was trapped. It was   
  
too late.  
  
*****  
  
When Leia excused herself from her surprise guest, her brother jumped to his   
  
feet and asked her if she needed any help... with anything. She noticed that   
  
he was practically begging her to take him away from Tarrintha for a while.   
  
Amused, yet puzzled by his behavior, she nodded and headed toward the   
  
kitchen. After convincing their guest to stay put and wait for them, her   
  
brother was right on her heels.  
  
Once in the kitchen, he let out a sigh of relief. "Why did you invite her   
  
over so soon?" he asked her as they walked through the throng of droids that   
  
were busy with the dinner that would be served in a few hours. "I thought   
  
that you wanted to talk with me."  
  
"What do you mean, why did I invite her? I thought that you had changed your   
  
mind and wanted to spend more time with her, even introduce her properly to   
  
me," she retorted, then opened the cooling unit and pulled a jar of berry   
  
juice from it. She silently offered him some.  
  
"So she's maneuvered her way 'in' without either of us being wiser?" Luke   
  
frowned, then turned around as if to gaze through the wall of the kitchen.   
  
"I knew that some women were interested in me, but this is ridiculous."  
  
"But what's wrong with her, Luke?" she inquired, curious about her brother's   
  
feelings for the cultured, interesting young woman. "She kind of reminds me   
  
of myself when I was her age," she commented next, subtly reminded him that   
  
he had been in love with her before they had found out about their   
  
relationship.  
  
"Without your spunk and courage," her Jedi brother answered honestly, then   
  
nodded in thanks as he accepted a proffered glass. "She's also a little too   
  
polished for my taste, wouldn't be good in a fight, if you know what I   
  
mean," he blushed slightly, then buried his face in his glass.  
  
'Like Mara Jade,' the ex-princess of Alderaan reflected with a thin smile,   
  
then tried to see read her brother's feelings for the red-headed woman. "You   
  
never know, Luke," she began lightly. "I've heard that she takes Teras-Kasi   
  
lessons, and she knows how to wield weapons, pirate problems oblige."  
  
"She does?" her brother gaped in slight surprise, then sobered again.   
  
"Still, she isn't my style."  
  
"Too even tempered, perhaps?" she teased him, fishing for more confirmation   
  
that her brother was indeed falling in love with the only other woman that   
  
she knew that answered all his other, already-mentioned criteria.  
  
To her confusion, he shook his head at that. "She just sees me as the Jedi   
  
Master, nothing else. She is not interested in the real me," he continued,   
  
then filled his glass again before he selected a glass, for their guest.  
  
"Huh? Luke," Leia interrupted him. "That might not be good enough for---"  
  
"A princess, exactly. Like a farmboy isn't good enough for them, but just   
  
come with me and you'll see for yourself, understand what I mean," he told   
  
her seriously, then was gone.  
  
Aware that her brother was being unusually open with her, Leia hurried to   
  
fetch her glass from the counter, then followed him out of the kitchen and   
  
into the living room. She entered just in time to notice the slight grimace   
  
that the noble woman made when Luke presented her with the children's berry   
  
juice. But right on the heel of that reaction, she smiled and sipped at her   
  
glass, as if delighted.  
  
And with that, she understood what her brother had been trying for years to   
  
tell her about his not fitting in with nobility. He was not the problem,   
  
they were.  
  
Which now left the question of who would be able to love her brother as he   
  
was, and to enjoy mere berry juice with him if that was the drink he offered   
  
them.  
  
Although a name floated up in her mind, again, she felt reluctant to   
  
consider it. However, she made a note to herself to watch the other woman   
  
very closely tonight, when she would be sitting in front of Luke and his   
  
royal date.  
  
******  
  
Later that night, the high Court of Cariba had finished its tour of the city   
  
and had accepted the President`s invitation to an more informal dinner at   
  
her own place. Despite the informal nature of the meeting however, everyone   
  
was wearing fineries, except perhaps Luke who had not returned to his place   
  
since he had reached his sister`s. Since he was wearing his lightsaber   
  
though, the dignitaries understood that he was simply affecting his Jedi   
  
Master role and did not take offense in the fact that he was wearing simple,   
  
dark-coloured, but not black, clothes.  
  
However the other guests, and even their hosts, did not escape a more   
  
scrutinizing look. The princess gave a dark look to Leia as Mara Jade and   
  
Talon Karrde entered the Solo's living room.  
  
Although mildly annoyed by the other's judgmental attitude, Luke did not   
  
react to her question in any way. Instead, his eyes were glued on the   
  
sumptuous sight of his best friend and the daring yet somehow conservative   
  
gown that she had selected for the evening. While the cleavage of the   
  
body-hugging, satin green gown was appropriate, revealing the form of her   
  
breasts while keeping most of it out of sight, the long slit of her skirt   
  
left nothing to the imagination exposing her left leg. Similarly, the back   
  
of her gown was barely covering her athletic back, exposing it between a V   
  
of fabric that met just at the small of her back. As if the dress did not   
  
reveal enough details about the most attractive woman, a fine gold trim   
  
enhanced her cleavage while a thin belt hugged her voluptuous hips in a   
  
decorative V. It was as if she were wearing a necklace around her body that   
  
completed the one around her swam-like neck. As if the she was not ravishing   
  
enough, she had pulled up her hair in a wayward yet organized fashion,   
  
leaving tendrils of hair to caress her barely covered shoulders while   
  
uncovering the daring back of her chosen gown.  
  
"Mara," he bowed his head to her, then refocused on her date. "Talon."  
  
Despite their conversation of the morning, it seemed that the red-head still   
  
wanted to give Talon a chance. Although Luke was more and more aware that he   
  
did not want even that relationship to work, he hoped that his two friends   
  
would have a great evening together.  
  
Which was more than what he could say about himself and his tenacious date   
  
who was once again stuck to his side as if she would never let go of him...  
  
About an hour later, Karrde and Jade sat beside each other and just across   
  
from Skywalker and Goule. Ever since she had arrived, Mara had found herself   
  
hyperaware of the Jedi. Even though she had chosen to come to this dinner   
  
with Karrde, and that her companion was pleasant and gallant, She could not   
  
help but hear every word Luke said, and notice every motion that he made,   
  
especially those toward his own date, the princess of Cariba.  
  
Every time she glanced up, she faced him. Sometimes he watched her and   
  
smiled slightly in acknowledgement. Sometimes he was smiling warmly at the   
  
Princess, worrying her despite herself about his feelings for the   
  
distinguished young woman. Still, she reflected, there was something   
  
strained about him; he seemed on edge.  
  
Inwardly shaking her head in an attempt to rid herself of pointless   
  
observations, she forced herself to refocus on her own date. Talon was the   
  
ultimate gentleman. Throughout the meal, he made sure her glass was always   
  
filled with the finest wine, secured the choicest cut of meat and selected   
  
the juiciest berries for dessert.  
  
Mara smiled, grateful for the distraction he provided and warmed by his   
  
solicitude. She really did like Talon Karrde, but her feelings did not go   
  
any further, she admitted to herself as she felt a wave of regret when she   
  
sensed deeper emotions from him. She could never give him the love he   
  
deserved.  
  
This would have to be it, no more dates, no more dinners until they cleared   
  
the air between them. She didn't want to break his heart, but how could she   
  
do that and maintain their friendship?  
  
What made her think that she should date a friend in the first place, she   
  
wondered. She glanced up at Skywalker in time to witness Tarrintha   
  
whispering something into the Jedi's ear. He blushed, but did not pull away.   
  
Mara quickly suppressed her irritation at the woman was so obviously lusting   
  
after the Jedi, but she was genuinely surprised that he didn't seem to be   
  
pushing her away.  
  
Pulled by an irrational need to reassure herself, Mara began to do a mental   
  
comparison between the Cariban royalty and herself. By the time she was   
  
done, she realized that Luke and Tarrintha were perfect for each other.  
  
Now why didn't that conclusion please her?  
  
C3P0 entered the room. He was carrying a serving tray filled with digestive   
  
delicacies, "Master Luke. It's so good to see you." He exclaimed.  
  
"It's good to see you too, old friend. Here, let me help you," Luke stood up   
  
and took the tray from the droid's slightly unstable hold  
  
"It really isn't necessary, I'm use to such servitude."  
  
"Nonsense." The Jedi protested insistently as he pried the plate from the   
  
droid's less prehensile hands. "Besides, you aren't designed for such   
  
duties."  
  
"He is now, Luke," Leia commented meaningfully as she gestured to him to sit   
  
down. *Sit down before our guests take offense of your discourteous   
  
behavior, Luke. Threepio handles plates all the time now.*  
  
He pointedly ignored her message through the Force.  
  
Mara hid a smile in her napkin when Tarrintha glared at the golden protocol   
  
droid.  
  
The King, for his part, finally recovered from his shock and stated, "No   
  
future son-in-law of mine should even touch a serving plate."  
  
Luke stood still, his face instantly turning crimson while Leia froze in   
  
mid-motion, her spoon stopping on its way to her mouth. Han Solo coughed,   
  
and Fey'la slapped his back in attempt to prevent the man from choking.  
  
------Future son-in-law? Mara felt her mind stop. All thoughts became impossible   
  
as she watched the dignitaries start to whisper among each other at this   
  
declaration.  
  
"Dad!" Tarrintha wailed, but the look on her face was filled with cunning.   
  
She was perfectly aware of the effect her father's pronouncement had on the   
  
others and she said, "I'm sorry, Luke dear. Father never knows when to be   
  
quiet."  
  
Luke nodded slowly and sank back into his chair. The dinner continued, but   
  
there was a distracted air that was not there a moment before. Leia watched   
  
Luke closely, but her duties as hostess prevented her from asking the   
  
questions that she were burning a hole in her tongue.  
  
Talon chuckled and leaned down to whisper in Mara's ear, "I had no idea that   
  
Luke was planning on marrying the princess. Somehow, I just can't picture   
  
the two together."  
  
"Oh I don't know, Talon." Mara bit out, "She's a lot like his sister."  
  
Talon Karrde considered this. He gazed at Mara with his wise, pale blue   
  
eyes.  
  
He nodded slowly and said, "Perhaps."  
  
C3P0 disappeared in the kitchen. Mara watched the couple across from her   
  
closely. Each little gesture between them seemed suddenly more intimate.   
  
Every look made her feel more and more jealous. Jealous? Mara Jade?  
  
Impossible, she told herself. And yet, the feelings would not go away. She   
  
tried to ignore the handsome blond couple. They did look good together, Mara   
  
thought darkly. She missed the way Luke shifted uncomfortably in his chair   
  
and the pleading look he gave his sister.  
  
When the dinner was finally over, Mara almost tripped on the hem of her long   
  
dress in an effort to leave the table. Talon squeezed her shoulder and began   
  
a heated negotiation on her behalf with the Calaban chief trade officer. She   
  
was grateful to her friend, unable to even think about business as she   
  
watched Luke escape onto the balcony.  
  
He leaned against the railing, releasing a long sigh as he peered out over   
  
the Coruscant skyline. He always loved the view from Leia's balcony, but it   
  
failed to comfort him. Tarrintha followed him outside. He felt his spine   
  
stiffen, and he kept his attention trained on the distant air traffic hoping   
  
that by sheer will alone, the princess would leave. No luck.  
  
"It's beautiful out here." She said smoothly as she joined him by the   
  
railing.  
  
Luke glanced back and saw that Mara was leaning against Talon. She seemed   
  
self-absorbed, unaware of her surroundings, completely oblivious to his   
  
presence. He wanted more than anything to talk to her, but something about   
  
Talon's presence made him feel inhibited.  
  
Tarrintha ran a long nail seductively across his chin, turning his head   
  
toward her. Luke's eyes widened as he faced her. There was something coldly   
  
beautiful about her, something that kept him riveted in place as he wondered   
  
what she had in mind. When Tarrintha leaned toward him, Luke did not pull   
  
away. He was too shocked by the other's daring. It had been so long since   
  
anyone had wanted to kiss him like this woman... It was just too bad that he   
  
was unmoved by her, and an errant thought of a particular red head sprang   
  
into his mind.  
  
Tarrintha pulled back from him, laughed, and said, "You and I are going to   
  
be so good together."  
  
Luke began to shake his head in denial. This was so wrong. Before he could   
  
say a word, she pulled him toward her, claiming his mouth again.  
  
Mara watched in cold horror as Luke and Tarrintha kissed. She told herself   
  
that she could handle the Jedi's new relationship, but the sheer exuberance   
  
with which Tarrintha laughed and then kissed him made it pretty obvious that   
  
the Jedi had proposed to her. Mara turned away feeling as if the ground had   
  
crumbled away from beneath her feet. Luke hardly knew her. How could he want   
  
to marry her? Mara felt both searing pain and dull anger, fill her being.   
  
She focused on the anger, bringing it to life forcing the pain aside in her   
  
fury.  
  
Luke, who was still surprised by Tarrintha's unusually forward action,   
  
finally managed to push her away from him. He didn't love her. She was an   
  
attractive woman, but she just felt wrong.  
  
He was barely acknowledging this fact when a sudden pain startled him. Luke   
  
wondered for half a second if Tarrintha could sense his thoughts through the   
  
force, then he realized that it wasn't the blonde's feeling but the anguish   
  
of another lady.  
  
Luke looked around just in time to see Mara turn away. A flash of guilt   
  
speared through him as he realized what his friend had just seen. He turned   
  
to Tarrintha, gave her some lame excuse before she could stick herself to   
  
him once again, then promptly followed Mara into and out of the Solo's   
  
residence.  
  
He didn't know what he would say when he reached her, but her pain continued   
  
to echo through him, forcing him onward.  
  
Once in the outside corridor, Mara gave her fury free reign, knowing that it   
  
gave her the ability to prevent the tears from spilling free.  
  
Tears? For Skywalker?  
  
This was ridiculous, she thought to herself. Mara realized that she had left   
  
the dinner party without saying a word to the Solos or even to her date,   
  
Talon Karrde. She stepped into a turbolift and groaned inwardly when   
  
Skywalker dashed into the lift before the doors closed behind him.  
  
Mara glared silently at the Jedi, hoping that her eyes did not betray her   
  
with the telltale moisture. Luke regarded her silently, waiting for her to   
  
speak. Finally he said, "I know Leia sometimes goes a little overboard with   
  
the spices, but I though your experienced palate could handle the heat." His   
  
voice had a mildly humorous tone, but his eyes never strayed from her face.  
  
"I'm surprised you're not still pressed up against the princess." Mara spat   
  
out vehemently.  
  
Luke's face grew warm and he replied, "I'm not interested in her. Besides,   
  
what would it matter to you anyway? Aren't two men enough for you?"  
  
Mara glared at him, but had the grace to be embarrassed as well. She spat   
  
angrily, "Karrde and Terren are none of your concern."  
  
"Why not? I thought we were friends," Luke said.  
  
"If we're such good friends, why didn't you tell me you were going to marry   
  
your princess?"  
  
It was Luke's turn to be confused about her comments. "What? Marry her?   
  
You're wrong Mara. That was a mistake." Luke's eyes were wide.  
  
"Oh come on, Luke. I've heard about how close you've grown throughout the   
  
past days. The King practically announced your engagement at the dinner, and   
  
she's more than admitted that you've grown close. That scene on the balcony   
  
just confirmed it."  
  
"That might be what she wants, but I'm not marrying Tarrintha. I have no   
  
interest in her."  
  
"No interest?" Mara sneered "Pulling a girl close is certainly a strange way   
  
to show a girl that you're not interested."  
  
The moment the turbolift doors opened, Mara stepped out. After they exited   
  
the lift, Luke blocked her path.  
  
"Get out of my way, Skywalker." She pushed him back.  
  
Luke stumbled away and asked, "No, listen to me. I'm not going to marry the   
  
princess, Mara. I don't love her."  
  
Mara sputtered and then said, "I don't believe you."  
  
"Oh, so now you don't believe me yet you can trust that Terren Macay?"  
  
Mara's eyes narrowed in warning. "What is that supposed to mean?"  
  
"I don't trust that guy," he admitted to her.  
  
Mara raising her hackles the moment Luke assumed his protective role again.   
  
Thrusting her finger right under his nose, she growled, "Stay out of my   
  
life, Jedi. I'm old enough to make my own decisions."  
  
"But not wise enough to see lies even in yourself," Luke replied honestly.  
  
A cold chill coursed through her, freezing her in place.  
  
For a very long moment, they both glared at each other, debating if she   
  
wanted to hit him or kiss him Luke said, "And what about Karrde? Why did you   
  
walk out of that party, leaving him behind if you care so much for him?"  
  
Mara dropped her gaze and then shrugged, "I know that Talon and I won't   
  
work. I just haven't figured out a way to let him know without ruining our   
  
friendship. He means a lot to me, Luke I don't want to lose him."  
  
"I'll always be there for you, Mara." Talon's voice said from behind them.   
  
Mara whirled around, flushing. Talon stepped free of the turbolift to join   
  
them on the outer platform.  
  
"I'm sorry, Talon."  
  
"Don't be. You've already tried telling me. I've just been too stubborn to   
  
listen. I was hoping . . but that doesn't matter now."  
  
His shrewd gaze went from Mara's face to Luke's and he asked pointedly,   
  
"I'll not stand in your way anymore. I know you've in love, just not with   
  
me. I've always had this strange notion of wanting to have the woman in my   
  
life give her heart to me."  
  
Mara started to shake her head.  
  
"It's all right, Mara," Talon asserted. "I know you love Terren."  
  
He was baiting her, Karrde knew full well that Mara did not know her own   
  
heart and he was sure that her feeling went pretty deep for a certain Jedi   
  
Master. Karrde cared for her deeply and decided it was time that Mara was no   
  
longer in the dark about her own feelings.  
  
Mara gazed at Karrde, remaining silent, as if considering whether to open   
  
her heart to them or not. Then the moment was gone, "You are both wrong!"   
  
she denied adamantly. "I'm not in love. Period. Please make my apologies to   
  
Organa-Solo and tell your princess." She made the title into an insult,   
  
"that I'll arrange for a representative to see to the details of our   
  
arrangement."  
  
Mara turned on her heel and walked quickly away.  
  
Talon watched the various emotions cross the Jedi's face, exchanged a   
  
bemused and understanding gaze with him, then before he could prompt the   
  
younger man to go after Jade, Luke pulled himself together.  
  
"Mara! Wait," Luke called as he ran after the angry young woman.  
  
Smiling knowingly, the smuggler quietly slipped away, retuning to the party   
  
to do damage control while giving some privacy to the two Jedi.  
  
As he re-entered the waiting lift, Karrde was surprised to find that he   
  
really wasn't hurt by Mara's rejection. She cared for him still and they had   
  
their friendship. Someday, he'd find true love, just not today, and in the   
  
meantime, he hoped his two friends would finally talk about their feelings   
  
for one another.  
  
Mara was running now, intent on losing Skywalker. She was within sight of   
  
her door; she noticed that someone was waiting just outside of it. It was   
  
Terren. Luke closed the distance between them. Seeing the Jedi right behind   
  
her, Mara reached out with the Force and opened her door. She pushed Terren   
  
inside, then slammed the door shut behind them.  
  
On the other side of the door, Luke barely kept himself from ramming nose   
  
first into the closed door. "Mara, please," he tried to open communication   
  
with her again. "We have to talk about this."  
  
*Why? I don't think it's necessary and I don't want to,* she sent him while   
  
she pulled her other companion to herself and kissed him.  
  
As she expected, her Jedi friend balked away and withdrew. The moment that   
  
Luke was gone, she pulled away from Terren and turned her back to him.  
  
"Hey, that was a nice opening, but not nearly enough after a few hours   
  
of---"  
  
"Cut it out, Terren," she warned him, then freed her hair from her simple   
  
bonds. "I don't want to see anyone at the moment."  
  
"Then you shouldn't have shoved me inside," the other began languorously.  
  
She silently warned him away, then, when the other failed to back away, she   
  
reached out with the Force and called her nearby lightsaber to her hand. She   
  
turned it on with a snap-hiss waving it a mere inch away from the man's   
  
face.  
  
"Get out, or you won't like the consequences," she warned, glaring at him   
  
from under her eyelashes.  
  
She expected the man to argue, to try and arrange for a next meeting with   
  
her, but instead, he just nodded in a way that reminded her of his imperial   
  
background. He swiveled on his heel in a precise movement and left her   
  
alone.  
  
Once her apartment was empty, she turned the weapon off, dropped the hilt on   
  
the nearby couch, then joined it and sunk into the deep cushions.  
  
Luke was right, she admitted to herself. She was lying to herself about   
  
Terren. There was no point in pursuing a relationship with him. It was over   
  
years ago. She tried to remember what it was that had attracted her about   
  
the man and when she tried to recall his features, Skywalker's face hovered   
  
into view. He was so infuriating sometimes. He made her feel so angry, he   
  
made her feel confused, he made her feel... period. She was more alive with   
  
him than with anyone else she knew.  
  
Why was that, she wondered?  
  
******  
  
Back at his apartment, Luke walked to the railing and peered out over the   
  
city below. His mind raced with the implications. He recalled Mara's pain   
  
when she had witnessed the kiss followed by her seemingly jealous behavior.  
  
Luke wondered, Could she really love him? Luke Skywalker? He always managed   
  
to make her angry, they bickered constantly. How had this happened? Could it   
  
be? Could she really feel about him like he did about her? And how had he   
  
failed to notice?  
  
He heard Talon's voice in his head asserting that Mara was in love and her   
  
insistence that she did not harbor deep feelings for anybody.  
  
As he pondered his relationship with his friend, it never occurred once to   
  
him to return to the dinner party or to his date, Tarrintha Goule.  
  
******  
  
Hours later, after changing clothes and going for a long, soul searching   
  
walk, Mara sat cross legged on a raised dais in a long forgotten, which was   
  
hidden deep within the old Imperial Palace. She gazed for a moment at the   
  
empty throne, wondering if she would be happier if the Emperor still   
  
occupied it. Probably not, but at times like these when she would have liked   
  
to turn to a family member, she sometimes ended up here.  
  
As dark as the Emperor was, he was the closest thing she had to a father.   
  
She might have normally gone to Skywalker, but since she had no intention of   
  
discussing her recent feeling for the Jedi with him, that was out of the   
  
question.  
  
This was by no means the main Imperial throne room. However, unbeknown to   
  
his enemies, the Emperor had many antechambers, still undiscovered by the   
  
New Republic. The dark side presence lingered faintly even in this lesser   
  
chamber. Mara was immune from the damaging effects that might have bothered   
  
other force sensitive individuals, having lived in its shadow for so many   
  
years.  
  
She hadn't been here for at least a year. Mara tried to pin down what had   
  
driven her subconscious to seek this dour room's dubious solace. Was it   
  
because of Terren Macay's reappearance in her life? She had once sat beside   
  
him in this very spot at the Emperor's feet. She remembered the growing   
  
closeness between them. He had been a light in her dark world. The light   
  
still burned, but somehow did not seem so bright. She snorted at herself.   
  
She was becoming poetic, but her thoughts continued to focus on this image.  
  
Who was her bright light? Was it Talon Karrde? No. He was one of the many   
  
stars in the sky, but certainly not the sun. Instead, her mind settled on   
  
Skywalker. He was the one person in all the galaxy that she really believed   
  
in, the only one who made her 'feel'. The combination of supremely capable   
  
Jedi Master with his farm boy honesty and humility balanced perfectly,   
  
making the ideal man. Ideal? Skywalker? She almost laughed at the thought,   
  
but couldn't. She knew it was what she truly believed when she allowed her   
  
thoughts free reign in the privacy of this forgotten chamber.  
  
From the moment she met him, she had been unable to kill him. There was just   
  
something that seemed somehow wrong about fulfilling the Emperor's command.   
  
Never before had she failed to fulfill any assignment for her former master.   
  
It would be easy to believe that it had been the passage of time since his   
  
death that had dulled her need to complete her assignment, but she knew that   
  
was a lie. Mara Jade just could not kill Luke Skywalker. Something deep   
  
within her rebelled a the very thought. Instead, she had saved his life on   
  
many occasions.  
  
"Mara Jade failed, and the Jedi is too dangerous to keep alive. I will kill   
  
Luke Skywalker." A voice echoed throughout the chamber.  
  
Mara froze. Her entire body became as cold as ice. The only thing that moved   
  
was the thudding of her heart. She reached out with her mind, but could not   
  
find the Emperor's presence. Just the familiar echo of his former power   
  
resonated in the room. Mara searched the room looking for the one who had   
  
spoken those words.  
  
"He will die when the Seismic Accelerator destroys the heart of this   
  
insurrection, as will most of Coruscant." The hauntingly familiar voice   
  
continued.  
  
There, down below on the lower level two figures stood cloaked in shadow.  
  
Mara remained still, realizing that her presence had gone unnoticed.  
  
"Of course, my dear Commander," a familiar feminine voice cooed. The shadow   
  
slid up to the taller of the two and wrapped her arms around the other. As   
  
she moved forward, a low light illuminated her face and Mara suppressed a   
  
gasp. It was Tarrintha Goule.  
  
The couple kissed passionately and a small pang of sympathy speared through   
  
Mara. Poor Luke. He had awful luck with women. But at the same time Mara   
  
could not help but be somewhat relieved at this development. There would be   
  
no way Luke would stay with Tarrintha once he learned of her betrayal.   
  
Unless he got it in his head to save her, like he tried to save the rest of   
  
the universe.  
  
Mara was an unwilling spectator as the two lovers continued to embrace. If   
  
she moved, she would draw attention to her location. Mara was intent on   
  
fully exploiting the potential of learning more intelligence on this threat   
  
to both Skywalker and to Coruscant. She tried to figure out who Tarrintha   
  
was kissing. She vaguely remembered an aide that was always near her that   
  
seemed to be about the same height. She would have to investigate him   
  
further.  
  
The couple pulled away, the man was still in shadow, his back to Mara. "You   
  
will have to leave soon before the planetary shields are up."  
  
"What about you?" Tarrintha asked.  
  
"I can take care of myself."  
  
"But aren't you going to be at the epicenter?" she asked, the perfect   
  
picture of concern.  
  
"Don't worry, my dear. I'll be far away from the Bothan embassy."  
  
They began to kiss again, and Mara rolled her eyes. Sith, they were evil,   
  
she thought as she was forced to watch another display of passion. Yet, at   
  
the same time, she felt a great relief flood her as she realized that the   
  
woman had not had any real interest in her Jedi friend either.  
  
It wasn't long before they broke apart and left the chamber. Mara waited to   
  
gain some distance between her and the couple and then hurried away to warn   
  
Skywalker. She hoped she could get to him in time.  
  
TBC in part 5  
  
Written 2003 (Rhea and SJ) 


	5. Part 5: The Trap

Divided Heart  
  
Part 5: The Trap  
  
By SJ and Rhea Jediknight (skyjade@globetrotter.net and  
  
jediknight@mail2master.com)  
  
____________________  
  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything   
  
belongs  
  
to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for   
  
more  
  
details.  
  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
__________________  
  
"This is Firebird. We are out of Coruscant's gravity field."  
  
The Commander smiled thinly as he heard the report of his Sovereign' pilots.   
  
He then turned toward his troops, who had subdued the surveillance men of the   
  
Capitol's deflector shields. He nodded at the them to initiate the sabotage   
  
while preparing their means of protection for it. He then contacted his other   
  
teams and also ordered them to proceed with the other sabotages.   
  
Seconds later, the planetary shield generator activated, bypassing all the   
  
security safeguards that were meant to prevent what his teams had just managed.  
  
From this moment onward, the security shield would remain in place until the   
  
planet would break apart.   
  
His prey was trapped, he smiled to himself as he followed his men out the way   
  
they had come in.  
  
His victory, as well as Luke Skywalker's death, were finally at hand.  
  
******  
  
A shrill warning signal pulled Leia out of deep sleep. Warmly ensconced in   
  
her husband's strong arms, she moaned in complaint; behind her, her   
  
ex-smuggler of a lover also groaned; the signal didn't leave their conscious   
  
attention alone. She reluctantly opened her eyes and pulled her comlink to her   
  
hand.  
  
"Don't they know that calling this early is uncivilized?" Han grumped, then   
  
threw his pillow over his head to block out the continuous, strident sound.  
  
"Must be what we call progress," Leia replied tiredly, then turned on   
  
her comlink.  
  
"Leia," Ackbar's gravelly voice greeted her before she had time to indicate   
  
her presence on the line. "Sorry to wake you up, but we have an emergency on   
  
our hands. The magnetic planetary shield has gone berserk and we can't shut   
  
it down anymore."  
  
"What??" Han gasped, pulling the pillow off his head before he sat up. "How   
  
did this happen?"  
  
"Different teams of saboteurs have managed to overcome the night team and have   
  
shielded their own work before they left."  
  
"Can't you undo what they have initiated?" the woman asked after she turned   
  
on the light of their bedroom. She was completely awake now.  
  
"We've been trying to do that for the past twenty minutes, princess. We've   
  
already called Luke for help."  
  
"Where are you?" she asked him.  
  
"At the generator station that is located near the Bothan Embassy."  
  
"I'll be right there," both she and Han answered in unison, then they jumped   
  
out of their bed.  
  
As they hastily put on the nearest clothes, they both exchanged a worried   
  
glance.  
  
They had a bad feeling about all this.  
  
******  
  
The moment that the enemy had left the secondary throne room, Mara left it in a   
  
rush.  
  
As she ran as fast as she could throughout the hidden corridors of the   
  
former imperial palace, she tried to focus her mind and contact her friend   
  
through the Force. However, between her ragged breath and her worry about him,   
  
she was not able to clear her mind enough and establish contact.  
  
Minutes later, she literally burst out of the secret entrance that was   
  
closest to Luke's place, then rushed over to his door. By the time   
  
that she stood in front of it, she knew that he was not inside. Forcing   
  
herself to relax, she found her center of Force awareness, reached out, out,   
  
searching along the bond that she seemed to share with the young man--- and   
  
finally found him.  
  
She began to sigh in relief as she pinpointed his exact location--- then she   
  
suddenly lost him as if he had mysteriously disappeared in the Force. But he   
  
hadn't, she realized. He couldn't be dead either, so she suspected that he had   
  
just entered an ysalamiri bubble, which was located in the area of the Bothan   
  
Embassy.  
  
Kreth!, she cursed vehemently. She quickly calculated how fast she could reach   
  
him, then, when she estimated that she would never reach him in time,   
  
punched in her override backdoor code in his door pad. If she couldn't use   
  
the Force to reach him, then she'd use his call station; she did not have   
  
her comlink with herself at the moment.  
  
The door slid open; she stepped inside---- and stopped in her tracks when a   
  
flash of electricity barely missed her midsection. Startled that Skywalker would   
  
have any anti-burglar system in place, she gazed down--- and growled in   
  
annoyance as she identified the identity of the Jedi's security system.  
  
"Cut it out, Short Stuff," she warned the artoo unit as she tried to push   
  
past him. "I need to contact Skywalker, and fast."  
  
The droid tweeted something that sounded derogatory to her ears.  
  
She glared down at him as she deciphered part of what he had just told her.   
  
"Get over it," she sneered at him, "just because I wasn't friendly when we   
  
first met doesn't mean that I can't change. It's been almost eight years   
  
now." She narrowed her eyes at the droid. "I'd think that Skywalker would have   
  
taught you that by now," she rebuked him.  
  
Artoo warbled another remark.  
  
"No, I don't want to harm the farmboy any more. However," she continued more   
  
seriously, "he's sure to come to harm if you don't let me in."  
  
The droid considered her comment, then pulled his welding arc away and   
  
allowed her entrance in the apartment. "I never thought you could be that   
  
resentful, Short Stuff," she commented, throwing him a warning glance. "I'll   
  
have to warn Skywalker to teach you some manners."  
  
The little droid beeped briefly in answer as he followed her toward the   
  
nearby communication console.  
  
Slightly annoyed by the droid's remaining wariness, Mara reconsidered   
  
pulling her blaster on him to discourage him from treating her like an   
  
enemy, but she once again changed her mind when she decided that such an action   
  
would not do her any good.  
  
She had never thought that she had hurt the droid in the past, but she was   
  
beginning to understand that he had not taken lightly the fact that she had   
  
threatened to rip him to pieces while on Myrkr.  
  
But that had been a long time ago, she thought seriously.  
  
Almost another life.  
  
"Skywalker took his comlink with him, right?" she asked her unwanted   
  
companion.  
  
An affirmative note answered her.  
  
"Good." She tapped in his code. The light continued to blink as it tried to   
  
establish contact with Skywalker. "Come on," she muttered in growing worry,   
  
"get through to him." More blinking. "I thought that technology was even   
  
more infallible than Jedi!" she spat in frustration.  
  
The droid behind her made a thoughtful comment about her complaint.  
  
Mara ignored him and tried to enhance her signal so as to pierce through   
  
whatever was also blocking the receiving functions of Luke's comlink.  
  
"Drat!" she finally admitted defeat. She could not warn Luke about the   
  
incoming danger. She reconsidered her options, then tried to contact Coruscant's   
  
security.  
  
The line was busy, asking her to call again later.  
  
Feeling the very intense urge to just shoot the frustrating appliance to   
  
space dust, she forced herself to calm down and simply turned off the   
  
communication system. "So much for that," she muttered, then headed out the   
  
way she had come when she heard a querying note from behind her.  
  
She turned around. "Where do you think I'm going?" she snorted at the   
  
machine. "I'm going to save your master's butt again, of course."  
  
To her surprise, the droid answered her statement by rolling closer to her,   
  
then past her as the door slid open. For a brief instant, Mara stared after   
  
him in confusion. When he turned his domed head toward her, she understood that   
  
he wanted her to follow him.  
  
Frowning in confusion, she fell in step behind him, careful to lock her   
  
friend's main door behind them.  
  
"What do you have in mind?" she asked him, wondering since when she had   
  
become so comfortable with the droid as to engage in sustained discussions   
  
with him.  
  
Either she was really softening as she got older, she thought dimly, or   
  
Skywalker was rubbing off on her.  
  
The droid remained silent. A few seconds later, he plugged himself in an   
  
information jack of the nearby wall and unlocked a hidden panel. Although   
  
Mara knew that much was hidden in the walls of the ex-imperial palace, she   
  
couldn't help but gape as this hidden panel slid up to allow her entrance   
  
into a darkened room. Reflexively pulling her blaster from her wrist   
  
holster, she followed Artoo inside. "You sure about that?" she asked him   
  
even as the door closed behind them.  
  
The moment that they were sealed inside, the lights turned on--- and she   
  
could only gape as she discovered the powerful YP-9800, high-altitude speeder   
  
that was hovering in front of her; in front of it, an outer door was already   
  
sliding open.  
  
"Don't tell me that this is Skywalker's," she commented as she quickly   
  
walked around the speeder to study the state-of-the-art, latest model of the   
  
sport-model, high-altitude craft.  
  
Artoo chuckled at her even as he used a specially-designed entrance ramp and   
  
climbed aboard.  
  
It was Luke's, she realized even as she tried to understand how he could   
  
have afford the thing, let alone what had pushed him to waste his   
  
non-existent money on such a 'toy'... which she herself had promised herself   
  
that she'd get on her next stop on Coruscant.  
  
Well, well, well, she finally smirked, then took place behind the steering   
  
controls, the farmboy was still full of surprises, even for her who thought that   
  
she knew everything about him. "All right, Short Stuff, buckle in tight. We've   
  
got an earthquake to stop."  
  
Bleeping in surprise at her statement, the droid didn't have time to comment   
  
on her moniker for him before they were through the main hatch and out into   
  
the sky of Coruscant. Pushing the engines to their maximum speed, Mara flew   
  
right toward the Bothan Embassy.  
  
She was within sight of the tall spires when they began to shake uncontrollably   
  
before her horrified eyes.  
  
She was too late.  
  
******  
  
When Luke joined Admiral Ackbar and his team, they went directly into the   
  
control and maintenance bays of the local shield generators.  
  
The moment that he stepped through the hatch of the main control room though, he   
  
froze in sudden worry. He couldn't feel the Force anymore. Whoever had sabotaged   
  
the shield had not only been thorough on the technical side, but all the other   
  
aspects of the job as well.  
  
"What's wrong, Luke?" his old friend inquired, turning toward him when he   
  
failed to follow them inside.  
  
"I'm afraid that I won't be able to help you more than your experts can. The   
  
place is surrounded by ysalamiri."  
  
"What?" Page, the officer who was in charge of the investigation, frowned as he   
  
overheard his comment. "How can it be? Where are the lizards?"  
  
Luke pursed his lips in sad humor. "If I could feel them, I'd gladly tell   
  
you. However, that's the point with ysalamiri. I can't pinpoint them; I can only   
  
feel the zone of influence."  
  
"Then let's blow this place----"  
  
"No," Leia's stern voice interrupted. Surprised to see her there, Luke turned   
  
around.  
  
Considering her sleep-tousled hair, he could tell that she and Han had rushed   
  
over as fast as they could. "If we destroy the room, we will ruin our only   
  
chance to figure out what has been done to the generators and undo it. You said   
  
that it couldn't be turned off?" she inquired next.  
  
"Yes, Mme President. We've also discovered that the vital mechanisms of the   
  
generator are shielded. That's why we can't interact with them anymore."  
  
"What about the other generators?" Han inquired while he surveyed the   
  
crowded room.  
  
Page shook his head in answer. "They've also been sabotaged like this one."  
  
"And the energy source? Have you tried to cut it off?" Luke suggested,   
  
feeling a dim hope fill him at the though that causing a general power outage   
  
might be the solution.  
  
"Whoever did this, Sir," Page replied, "they knew even more than we did   
  
about the inner workings of the shield generators. I think that we are   
  
dealing with ex-imperials."  
  
"And they've efficiently cut us off from the rest of the universe," Leia   
  
summarized, exchanging a worried gaze with her family. "What could be their   
  
motives though?"  
  
Before anyone could answer her, the ground under their feet began to shake   
  
hard, throwing them off balance even as the surrounding electronic appliances,   
  
unable to withstand the enormous tensions, instantly began to pull themselves   
  
free from their mountings on the walls.  
  
As he reeled into the nearby wall, Luke understood that they had just gotten   
  
their answer. Someone was using a seismic accelerator to destroy Coruscant.  
  
Wrapping an arm around his head, trying to protect it from impacting with   
  
the durasteel wall, he slammed into the wall; he hurried to recover from the   
  
impact and looked around. He saw his sister and brother-in-law--- and leaped   
  
forward as he spotted a light that was about to impale them as it detached from   
  
the ceiling overhead.   
  
He tackled Han and pushed him aside just in time to avoid a crushing impact   
  
with an suddenly dangerous object.  
  
The tremors then subsided as if they had never been.  
  
"You okay?" his sister asked as she checked on both of them.  
  
"Not a scratch," Luke replied, then, pulling himself to his feet, hurried   
  
back toward the room. The doors had begun to close itself when they had begun   
  
to malfunction.  
  
Once in front of them, he discovered that the doors had been stopped by a pile   
  
of computer and rubble, which was now blocking the main access of the control   
  
room. He tried to slip past it, then to push it away from the entrance.   
  
Nothing budged.   
  
"Anybody by the door?" he asked even as he turned on his lightsaber. Without   
  
the Force, he couldn't sense anything nor anyone.  
  
"Not that I can see," someone answered him from inside, "but be careful, just in   
  
case."   
  
'Right,' he thought grimly as he attacked the upper lid of the right-most door.   
  
He sliced neatly through it before he focused on the side. The closer he came to   
  
eye level though, the more he pulled his blade out of metal until only the tip   
  
of it was cutting through the metal. Then, after allowing the metal to cool   
  
down a little, he gripped both edges of the heavy door and strained to pull it   
  
away from its lower mooring.  
  
Han, who had recovered from his shock, then Leia, joined him in his effort.   
  
Together, they managed to pull the door free and against the nearby wall. Inside   
  
the room, the remaining lights were dim, lighting the walls instead of the   
  
floor. "We're coming through," he informed the moaning men and women who were   
  
trapped under computer consoles. "Anything broken?"  
  
Behind him, Leia helped the luckier techs out of the rubble while Han joined   
  
him in his effort to free those who had not escaped injuries.  
  
Even though Luke sometimes wished that he wasn't burdened with the Force,   
  
and all the challenges that it brought in his life, he now wished most   
  
ardently that he could have access to it. Lives were at stake. He needed to   
  
interven fast or----  
  
As if to confirm his feeling, new tremors shook the ground under them.  
  
This time, he and his friend were right in the path of the computer   
  
stations---- He unpleasant discovered the danger of their current position when   
  
a huge station pulled free from the wall and seemed to be aiming at him.  
  
He reflexively ducked even as he futilely tried to shield both him and Han   
  
with the Force.  
  
******  
  
Mara and Artoo had reached the location of the main generator and had   
  
entered the wide, main corridors when the ground shook again. Cursing, Mara   
  
shielded her head with her arms while she kept trying to move forward,   
  
protecting her luma from any damage. It was the only light available now,   
  
along with Artoo's headlight.  
  
Behind her, Artoo fluted a query.  
  
"No," she shot in irritation, speaking loudly in order to be heard over the   
  
the metallic screeching of the straining corridors. "I don't know where   
  
Skywalker is. My guess is the control room, don't you think?"  
  
Her electronic companion beeped once--- then disappeared down an adjacent   
  
corridor and stopped there. Wondering what he had uncovered, she reluctantly   
  
returned on her steps and held her balance as she waited for him to talk to her   
  
again. Around them, the remaining lights crashed down on the floor, plunging   
  
the corridor into complete darkness.  
  
"Should I leave you here and continue?" she inquired in slight irritation as   
  
she gazed down at his illuminated headlight.  
  
He answered her with a raspberry, then a triumphant squeal.  
  
"What?" she inquired. The tremors stopped once again. "What is it?"  
  
Even as the droid began to answer her in a flurry of sounds and chirps that   
  
were too fast for her to decipher, the Force provided her with the   
  
translation.  
  
She could sense Luke again; the Force had returned. *Luke!* she reached out   
  
instantly. *Get out of there before it's too late. It's a---*  
  
*Trap, we know,* her friend answered, then sent to her an image of what was   
  
happening around him. *I can't abandon them, Mara, but save yourself. Get   
  
airborne before the next tremors strike.*  
  
"Like Hell I will," she muttered to herself, then headed toward her friend's   
  
location at full speed. Behind her, the droid tooted forlornly.  
  
"Stay put," she yelled at him without turning around, "we'll come back for   
  
you." Then, she was sprinting down the grate-covered floor, careful to avoid   
  
the shattered glass and broken metal panels.  
  
******  
  
"Mara's coming," Luke informed his sister as the two of them finished to Force-  
  
pull a heavy station from Han's arm.  
  
"Mara? Why is she here now? And how does she know that we're here? The   
  
communications are jam---"  
  
Feeling his sister's reflexive distrust toward his friend, Luke frowned at   
  
her. "She's not involved in this, Leia. She's worried about our safety."  
  
"Whatever, Kid," Han gripped as he held his injured arm with his healthy   
  
one. "As long as she can explain to us how she got rid of the lizards."  
  
"And that we get out of here in one piece," Leia added as she helped her   
  
bruised up husband out of the messy room.  
  
They still did not trust her, he understood as he turned toward Page, who   
  
had just recovered his full senses. No matter how much his friend had helped   
  
them, how devoted to the New Republic she was, Mara still remained a number   
  
one suspect when they were dealing with ex-imperials.  
  
As he helped his friend up to his feet, he reflected that it was also   
  
probably one of the goals that was being pursued by their enemy. Sadly, they   
  
were succeeding in that aspect too.  
  
Minutes later, he, Page, and the survivors of the last tremors, all made it out   
  
of the room. Once they were done arranging for the transport of the wounded,   
  
their group hobbled away from the control room. New tremors hit their location,   
  
plunging them into complete darkness as the last lights fell and shattered on   
  
the floor.  
  
"Leia!" he called even as he unhooked his lightsaber with the Force, "take   
  
my lightsaber." He pressed it against her hand, making sure that she   
  
understood that he had given it to her. "We can use it as a glow lamp."  
  
"As long as we don't accidentally touch it," Han muttered tiredly, pulling a   
  
slight smirk from his friend.  
  
Good old Han, Luke thought in relief. No matter how bad the situation was, or   
  
how bad of shape he was in, he could still crack a joke and lighten their   
  
moods.  
  
"Well, don't hold it by the bright and pointy end and you should be okay,"   
  
Luke joked back, then he reached out with the Force to reinforce his charge   
  
before his senses could drift out again.  
  
Ahead of the group, Leia cut away the larger pieces of debris that were blocking   
  
their path. As they walked, the broken pieces of lights crunched under their   
  
thick shoes. She tried to direct the group away from the worst of the glass, but   
  
the corridors were filled with shards. Everyone paid extra attention to those,   
  
careful to avoid new injuries.   
  
When new tremors hit, she shared the suspicion with the others that they   
  
were increasing in strength and length; they didn't allow this new information   
  
stop them. Now that all the lights had been knocked down, they estimated that   
  
they couldn't be hit by anything else... until the shakes were strong enough to   
  
challenge even the strength of the overhead ceiling plates.  
  
Seeing this, she urged the others along faster, keeping her fledgling Jedi   
  
senses alert for warnings of new dangers.  
  
She thus felt a bright light approaching when someone ran toward their group.   
  
Lowering her brother's lightsaber into a defensive posture, she waited for the   
  
woman to appear to them; as she stepped out of the shadows, her green light   
  
illuminated the red-head's, worried green eyes.  
  
"Is everybody all right?" Mara inquired even as her eyes ran a cursory check   
  
on the men and women who were behind her and Han.  
  
Leia noticed that the other frowned when she refocused on her. "You keep   
  
going, I'll cover the rear," she said. "The coast is mostly clear, but we   
  
must not dawdle in here. The ceiling is beginning to give in, and the deck is   
  
giving up too."  
  
When Mara stepped closer, Leia reflexively followed her with her brother's   
  
blade, but before she could ask her how she had known about their   
  
predicament, her brother's voice filled her mind. *We need to get going,   
  
Leia. A new round is building up.*  
  
*Are you sure about her, Luke?* she asked him uncertainly.  
  
*I implicitly trust her with my life. If you don't trust her, then trust   
  
me.*  
  
Sighing in defeat, Leia silently nodded in acknowledgement at the red-head   
  
before she pulled the blade forward again and resumed her walking. At her   
  
side, Han moaned slightly as his arm shifted with the movement.  
  
Mara quickly checked on the techs that made it past her luma light, then sighed   
  
in relief when she spotted the familiar features of the one man for whom she   
  
would willingly risk her life in order to save his.  
  
"Are you all right?" she asked him even as she slipped her shoulders under   
  
Page's dangling right arm and helped her friend to carry him.  
  
"Are you?" he inquired back. "How did you know that I was here? What   
  
happened?"  
  
"While I was cooling down from our previous spat, I overheard a conversation   
  
that someone didn't want anybody to hear. They've planted a seismic   
  
accelerator under the Bothan Embassy."  
  
"Figured part of that already," he nodded, locking his shadowed eyes on   
  
hers-----  
  
A new tremor hit them again, harder than ever. Both she and Luke instantly   
  
widened their stance to retain their balance, but even then, they almost fell on   
  
the shard-filled deck. Mara reflexively checked the others in front of her---   
  
and noticed that the ceiling was dangerously bowing, about to cave in on the   
  
front of the group.  
  
"Luke!" she warned him. She didn't wait for his assistance and reached out to   
  
shield the others with the Force.  
  
She had barely begun to focus her control when Luke's much more skilled   
  
powers steadied her owns, joining and reinforcing her shield around both   
  
his family members and those who were coming right after them.  
  
Then, to Mara's awe, the Jedi Master also pushed the ceiling plates back   
  
into the ceiling, wedging them into place while the group hurried to walk under   
  
them.  
  
Once they were all safe, he let go of the plates; they crashed loudly behind   
  
them--- and forced the weakened deck open thanks to the strength of their   
  
impact.  
  
"I think it's about time to get out of here," he muttered under his breath.  
  
Mara wholeheartedly agreed with him, especially since the hard work had only   
  
begun.  
  
TBC in part 6  
  
Written 2003 Rhea and SJ 


	6. Part 6: Revelations

Divided Heart   
  
Part 6: Revelations   
  
By SJ and Rhea Jediknight (skyjade@globetrotter.net and   
  
jediknight@mail2master.com)   
  
05-04-03/   
  
____________________   
  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs   
  
to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more   
  
details.  
  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702   
  
Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and   
  
accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my   
  
friend!  
  
Rhea: Thanks to SJ for working on this with me. It's been fun!  
  
____________________   
  
After a few other near squeezes under falling ceiling plates, their group   
  
managed to make it out of the generator building unscathed. On their way out,   
  
they recovered Artoo Detoo, who had been trapped under a fallen wall and   
  
perilously close to falling into a gaping hole.  
  
Once outside, they gasped in horror as they saw the effect that the numerous   
  
tremors had had on the city around them.   
  
Buildings collapsed, or listed everywhere. There did not appear to be a   
  
structure that had gone undamaged. The low groan of metal attested to the   
  
unstable nature of the buildings around them.  
  
As they gazed around them, Luke spotted a small shipyard was just a few meters   
  
away. A large transport appeared undamaged, beckoning to them.  
  
"It's not fancy, but right now I'm none to picky." Han muttered.  
  
"Leia, take Han and the rest to the Medcenter. It should be fairly safe since it   
  
was built on swaying struts." Luke instructed.  
  
"But what about you? What do you intend to do?" Leia asked her brother.  
  
Mara answered instead, "I have a pretty good idea where the Seismic Accelerator   
  
was placed."  
  
Luke nodded. They would go together.  
  
"You're not going deeper? Luke, this isn't safe. The whole place might collapse   
  
any second." Leia protested.  
  
Luke met her gaze and seemed about to say something and then shook his head   
  
instead, "We have to stop this thing, Leia, or none of us will be safe."  
  
"I don't have time to argue with you, and . . . you're right. Just promise me   
  
you'll be careful."  
  
"I promise." Luke said solemnly.  
  
"I'll take care of him, Leia." Mara said impishly.  
  
Luke hid a smile behind his hand. Han chuckled, but the motion made him wince   
  
and his wan grin turned into a grimace.   
  
Luke and Leia's less-worried moods faded away to be replaced by concern about   
  
their friend's state.  
  
"All right. Call us the moment that you're safe," Leia warned her brother,   
  
kissed him on the cheek while she held him as strongly as she could without   
  
bouncing her husband anymore than she already had, then they parted company.   
  
Mara and Luke watched as the rest of the group entered the vehicle. nce they   
  
were sure that they had made it to safety, they headed toward the nearby Bothan   
  
Embassy  
  
"It's in through here," Mara said, sweeping her luma across the high-ceilinged,   
  
darkened main entrance. Here too, the floor had already given into the strong   
  
forces that had been pulling at it. It was peppered by several, baying holes.   
  
Careful to not fall into any of them, the two Jedi slowly made their way forward   
  
and toward the nearest stairwell, probing the sturdiness of the floor with both   
  
the tip of their feet and the Force.  
  
Just as they reached the main stairwell, a hand appeared out of one of the   
  
surrounding doors and pulled Mara toward it. "Mara!" Terren Macay said as he   
  
pulled her into his embrace, from which Mara expertly freed herself, dancing   
  
around a nearby hole in the deck as she did so. The young man gave her a sad   
  
expression, but she could feel that he was not hurt in the least by her   
  
rejection.  
  
"What are you doing here, Terren? How did you find me?" Mara asked   
  
incredulously.  
  
"I could find you anywhere, my dear. After all, we still have a bond through the   
  
Force."  
  
Mara frowned even as Luke's eyes went wide and his barriers slammed into place.   
  
She wanted to explain to him, that the bond was nothing like the one she   
  
experienced with the Jedi Master, but Luke had blocked her off completely. Now   
  
was not the time to be stubborn!, she wanted to shout at him, then chose another   
  
tactic to communicate with the frustrating farmboy.  
  
She confronted Macay's lie.  
  
"Really, Terren?" she perched an eyebrow at the other. "Then why did it take you   
  
so long to discover that I was even alive? You did say that you thought that I   
  
had died in the destruction of the Second Death Star."  
  
Even as she felt Luke's senses open once again as he understood what she had   
  
just implied with her challenge, Terren's face twisted in an ugly, evil grimace.   
  
Luke reacted instantly.  
  
"Mara watch out!"   
  
At the same time, the ex-assassin noticed that Terren had somehow pulled a   
  
blaster from behind him and was almost already aiming at her. Before she had   
  
cleared her own weapon, or moved out of the way, Luke pushed her out of the path   
  
of the already incoming blaster bolt.   
  
As she landed on a sturdy part of the deck, the Jedi took the brunt of the   
  
impact in his shoulder. Just then another tremor hit, challenging the young   
  
man's balance further. When the tremors worsened in strength, he uncontrollably   
  
spun on his heel and fell into the nearby hole.   
  
Mara yelled, "No!" and ran toward the falling Jedi, who had hit his head on the   
  
edge of the deck before disappearing in the darkness. She could feel that he was   
  
already unconscious unable to do anything to prevent his fall. She reached out   
  
with the Force, attempting to grasp onto Luke's falling body. At first she   
  
thought that she had succeeded, but Terren grabbed her arm, breaking her   
  
concentration. The tremor slowly subsided as he pulled   
  
her back to her feet.   
  
Fury filled her. Her hand went to her lightsaber hilt, but her captor pulled   
  
harder on her arm. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned, waving his   
  
blaster menacingly in front of her eyes, angling it toward her jaw.  
  
"Why did you do that Terren? Why!?" The anger and sorrow clouded her ability to   
  
use the Force properly. Her green eyes filled with tears.  
  
The sight of her mourning Skywalker enraged the ex-Imperial," Tears for the Jedi   
  
Master?" he sneered, then shoved her away from himself. "You disgust me, Mara.   
  
The Emperor would be most displeased."  
  
Stopping herself from falling into another hole of the deck, Mara swiftly turned   
  
toward her enemy. "The Emperor is dead, Terren. He's a nightmare long gone from   
  
my life."  
  
"Ah, but there is another about to ascend the throne once again." Terren said.  
  
A look of dawning comprehension came across her face, "You didn't find me   
  
because of a Force bond, you came to stop us from taking out the Seismic   
  
Accelerator. You're the one who is trying to destroy Coruscant."  
  
"I'm surprised it took you this long to figure it out Mara. I was hoping that   
  
you would join us, and I still hold out hope that you will remember where you   
  
really belong."  
  
As the truth penetrated her, Mara Jade quieted her mind, gathering the Force   
  
around herself. Now in deeper touch with the Force, she felt a flicker of   
  
awareness and realized that Luke Skywalker was injured but still alive. She had   
  
to act fast if she wanted to save him and stop the accelerator from continuing   
  
its destruction.  
  
Terren's eyes narrowed, feeling the power of the Force build around the woman.  
  
"I never belonged with you, Terren," she defied him, locking her green gaze on   
  
his. "The Emperor twisted your mind, used you like he used me, but instead of   
  
breaking free, you've allowed him to continue to rule you even years after his   
  
death."  
  
"It's not the Emperor that I serve, Mara. I have a new Master, one more powerful   
  
then the Emperor ever dreamed."  
  
Mara shook her head, not understanding the man.   
  
"The Sovereign."  
  
With her Force senses heightened, she suddenly felt the coming of the next   
  
tremor. She timed her motion to coincide with the beginning of the quake. She   
  
pulled her saber free, igniting it in one quick motion. Terren pulled the   
  
trigger on his blaster and Mara blocked the bolt. It crackled against her blue   
  
blade and deflected it back right into Terren's face. He barely dodged out of   
  
the way in time; the bolt of burning energy left a red mark on his cheek.  
  
Outraged by his injury, the other pulled another blaster from his belt and   
  
opened fire on her.   
  
Luke..., Mara thought reflexively as she delved deeper in her connection with   
  
the Force.  
  
Aware that her friend was still unconscious and on a precarious perch,   
  
she opened her eyes and stepped closer to her enemy, skillfully walking on the   
  
unstable floor as if it were not half-destroyed. Her blue blade kept flashing   
  
right and left in the darkness, intercepting bolt after bolt of deadly energy.  
  
"You will pay for your betrayal, Jade," Terren snarled as his shots became   
  
more rapid in an attempt to break past her guard.  
  
Closing her eyes to focus on her center of awareness, Mara allowed the Force   
  
to flow freely through her, guiding her through her defense like Luke had   
  
taught her to do ever since she had begun to train with him. Taking a deep   
  
breath, she intercepted a new blaster bolt with her saber; then, remembering   
  
that shooting had never been Terren's forte, nor had the combination of   
  
different types of attacks at the same time, she planned her next move.   
  
Taking a deep breath, she blocked yet another shot, angling her blade in front   
  
of her chest as she did so, then, maintaining her weapon and hand at that level,   
  
she dropped low to the floor and closer to her assailant, then swept her legs   
  
through his shins.   
  
Even as the other fell down, suddenly losing his balance, she intercepted   
  
another blaster bolt with her still deflecting saber; the bolt rebounded against   
  
her blade and flew back in Macay's direction.  
  
It hit him square in the chest as he fell on his back; by the time that he   
  
touched base, he was dead.  
  
Straightening to her feet, Mara barely spared him a slightly regretful gaze   
  
as she realized that not so long ago, she had not been so very different from   
  
Terren. She had only broken free from the Emperor with the help of Luke   
  
Skywalker. Then, she whirled about and returned near the hole that had swallowed   
  
the Jedi.  
  
She peered into it, but could see no sign of Luke. She could not see any sign of   
  
Luke. She had to descend through the deserted Embassy complex then. But that   
  
was all right, she thought as she hurried to reach the nearby stairs, it was   
  
where she had to go anyway. The seismic accelerator could only be found in the   
  
lower basement, at ground level, so going down for Luke, or going down to save   
  
the planet, she still needed to reach the only ground level of this area of the   
  
city.   
  
As she considered her plan though, a new round of quakes hit; it finished the   
  
tear lose the remaining structures of the upper staircases. They came crashing   
  
down on the lower ones, effectively cutting off Mara's route. Behind her, the   
  
holes of the floor kept widening so much that she reflected that a ship would   
  
fit through the hole----   
  
She stopped on her thought.  
  
A ship. Or a speeder!  
  
Raising her head to look in the direction of the entrance of the complex, she   
  
suddenly remembered that she had come to this location aboard Skywalker's YP.   
  
She prayed the Force that it would still be waiting for her near the generator   
  
complex. Then, closing down her lightsaber, she gathered the Force to her once   
  
again and leaped far and above the still enlarging gap. After landing on the   
  
once again shaking deck, she ran as fast as she could toward the exit.  
  
Five seconds later, she vaulted over its edge, barely settled in the pilot seat,   
  
then revved the engines and flew toward the edge of the platform. She angled the   
  
nose of the vehicle downward and dove at full throttle toward the lower levels   
  
were Luke's dim presence was still detectable.  
  
As she skillfully avoided askew girders and other falling obstacles, she   
  
remembered the way Luke had taken the blaster bolt that was intended for her. No   
  
one else would have been willing to sacrifice their life for her. How could she   
  
have allowed Terren to trick them like that? And why had it taken her so long to   
  
realize how important Skywalker was to her?   
  
Quickly whipping her head around to scan the different levels as she zipped past   
  
them, she tried to feel his presence. He was closer now, and using the Force to   
  
guide her. She suddenly righted her speeder, efficiently halting her descent.   
  
Fortunately for her, Skywalker had chosen his speeder well and the engines were   
  
able to compensate for her maneuver without failing.  
  
Swiftly, she brought her speeder closer to the structure, looking for a place to   
  
enter. Then, she spotted him. A long swaying bridge was crossing an abyss;   
  
Luke's limp form was slumped in the middle of the durasteel walkway. Slamming on   
  
the breaks, Mara jumped out of her speeder and ran toward him, aware that sheer   
  
luck, or the power of the Force, had put the bridge in the pathway of his   
  
descent. He was barely hanging on, his head lulling over the edge. His blond   
  
hair hung down, so that Mara could not see his face, but she could tell that he   
  
had not recovered his senses since falling.   
  
She reached him, just as another tremor shook the building. The bridge swayed   
  
under the effect of the strong geological forces, threatening the Jedi's   
  
precarious balance as it did. She caught him just as he was slipping further   
  
forward, preventing him from falling from the bridge. She pulled his unconscious   
  
form off the unstable bridge, then onto a nearby platform. There, she set him   
  
on her lap and held him against her chest. His left shoulder looked painful, but   
  
the blaster wound had cauterized the skin, stopping the bleeding. As if he   
  
sensed her presence, he moaned softly; Mara reflexively tightened her grip on   
  
him. The tremor subsided and Luke's eyelids fluttered open.  
  
"Hey, welcome back," she said softly.  
  
His blue eyes searched hers, slowly taking in their situation, then he attempted   
  
to sit up. Mara released her grip on him, but he seemed reluctant to leave her   
  
arms.  
  
"Are you alright? What happened to Terren?" he asked, his voice sounding dry,   
  
unused.  
  
"I'm fine, but I can't say the same about him." Mara said simply. "Luke, I   
  
wanted to tell you, about the Force bond." Luke shook his head, but Mara   
  
continued, "I could communicate with Terren, but I didn't have a bond with him,   
  
not in the same way that I do with you."  
  
"I know that, Mara. I figured that out when he tried to kill you." He smiled   
  
slightly.  
  
"Why did you do that?"  
  
"Did what?" Luke asked.  
  
"Why did you take the blaster bolt that was intended for me?"   
  
Luke's hand cupped her cheek and he said, "I couldn't let you die, Mara."  
  
"But you almost died yourself." Mara said, her heart constricting at the   
  
thought.  
  
The Jedi Master could feel her pain at this thought and it gave him the courage   
  
to share his feelings, "I would have died anyway, if you were no longer in my   
  
life."   
  
She started to shake her head in denial, and he continued, "You know it's true,   
  
Mara. I know you can feel my heart, just as I can feel what's in yours."   
  
Mara's eyes went wide and she didn't protest when Luke sat up and pulled her   
  
into a kiss. Their lips moved sensually, their bodies pressed intimately   
  
together. Everything became centered on this one point, nothing else existed.   
  
There was just Luke and Mara. She felt as if her blood was on fire and that her   
  
heart would pound out of her breast. She could no longer form a coherent   
  
thought, all she could do was feel. The Force swelled around them, binding them   
  
on an even deeper level. Luke pulled back, gasping, trying to draw air into his   
  
lungs, overwhelmed by the pleasurable sensations caused by their kiss and their   
  
joining in the Force.  
  
They gazed at each other in amazement, both of them too moved to speak.  
  
Then the tremors started again. Mara was the first to act, "We don't have much   
  
time, we have to get to the accelerator before it's too late."  
  
Luke nodded, and he smiled faintly, putting a fingertip to Mara's mouth before   
  
reluctantly standing up.   
  
With her help, Luke hobbled as fast as he could toward the nearby speeder.   
  
His speeder, he belatedly realized when they were just beside it. "How did this   
  
get here?" he inquired while he slipped in the passenger seat, following Mara as   
  
she edged toward the pilot seat.   
  
She shrugged. "Short Stuff took me to it."   
  
Lifting his hand to his head, Luke winced as a headache quickly took shape   
  
behind his temple. "Artoo? So you were at my quarters then?"  
  
"I was trying to prevent something from happening to you, but couldn't reach   
  
you." Mara's voice was sardonic, "Now, tighten your seat belt. The flight   
  
downward might be bumpy."  
  
As if to concur her statement, new tremors shook the remaining struts. "I just   
  
hope that we'll be on time to save the planet from breaking up," Luke muttered   
  
while he obeyed her.  
  
"Yeah, let's just hope," she said wryly, then ignited the engines to their full   
  
power.  
  
Luke's stomach leapt into his throat when then dove nose-first toward the   
  
undistinguishable lower levels of the city.   
  
After minutes of dodging and break-neck piloting, they finally reached their   
  
targeted level. Mara reduced their speed, then righted their trajectory. The   
  
powerful headlights of the speeder illuminated the surrounding concrete walls of   
  
what had once been some type of building. While she kept her blaster handy, her   
  
companion held his lightsaber handle in his right hand; both pair of eyes were   
  
darting back and forth around them, searching for clues that would inform them   
  
about the location of their enemy.  
  
*Any ideas?*" Mara inquired through the Force.   
  
*Not really, you? You said that---*   
  
*What?* she inquired, focusing her eyes on him as she felt him freeze as if in   
  
horror.   
  
"Ahead and to our left, do you feel what I feel?" he whispered.  
  
Following his instructions, she reached out to sense what he had detected. "I   
  
can't find anything," she shrugged... then paused as she pondered her own words.   
  
She reached out again; she truly couldn't find anything.   
  
Not even the Force.   
  
"They've got ysalamiri," Luke nodded grimly, "and they've probably heard us   
  
coming by now. Do you have a plan?"  
  
"I think we need to take a look from above then," she commented as she turned on   
  
the engines and headed back the way they had come. The moment that they left the   
  
ground, new tremors shook the walls of the surrounding building, which didn't   
  
look like they could take much more of that rude treatment.  
  
Mara noticed that they were increasing in strength with each repetition. *We'll   
  
have to be careful to not lose footing, again,* she teased her companion.   
  
She pulled the controls toward herself; the speeder climbed up a wall and   
  
stationed itself beside a series of resisting girders.  
  
"Ha, ha, very funny," the Jedi quipped. "As if I had meant to fall like that. I   
  
would have been satisfied with only saving your life." He climbed out of the   
  
speeder and held himself steady against the still shaking framework.   
  
"And that's why I'm coming with you Jedi. To keep you out of trouble," she   
  
teased him, following him onto the girder and sent: *hero.* She smiled at him.  
  
*Hey, I like being the hero. Besides, the hero is always the one who gets to   
  
kiss the maiden in distress,* he answered more seriously--- then quickly leaned   
  
closer to her and pressed his lips fully against hers. She was startled, her   
  
eyes wide. Once again, Mara was intoxicated by his powerful, naïve, and strong   
  
presence. Despite the danger surrounding them, everything faded into the   
  
background, as she returned his spontaneous kiss.  
  
*Be careful,* he finally sent her, along with all his feelings of care and love,   
  
then began to pick his way along the main struts of the metallic girder.  
  
*Same to you,* she answered him as she followed him.  
  
The quakes had yet to stop and were growing in intensity; they were running out   
  
of time. Quickly and carefully, the two Jedi made their way back toward the   
  
Force void. While Luke's usual blacks provided excellent camouflage in the   
  
darkened corridors, Mara's light-blue, short-sleeved shirt shone more like a   
  
beacon for the enemy. Thus, they stopped advancing the moment that they spotted   
  
the enemy's presence in the distance.   
  
They were also outside of the ysalamiri bubble.  
  
Luke and Mara crouched low, hanging onto the main frame of their perch ,   
  
continuing to sway from the ongoing quakes. No less than ten troopers were   
  
forming a semi-lose circle around a protuberance that was almost completely   
  
buried in the ground. They had found the Seismic Accelerator. The troops were   
  
carrying ysalamiri frames on their backs.  
  
*Do you think you can take care of the lizards from here?* Luke inquired through   
  
the Force, turning his head toward her.  
  
*I can probably shoot five of them before they spot us, but the moment they are   
  
alerted, we'll be exposed and we don't have much protection from their blasters.   
  
Unless...* she paused briefly.   
  
"I should be able to block with my saber any shots that come our way. I think   
  
it's the best plan that we have." Luke assured her.  
  
With his left arm injured, he would have a harder time wielding his lightsaber,   
  
but he didn't have any other choice, he reminded himself. He would have to 'do'   
  
it, once again.   
  
He could feel her hesitation and he assured her, *We don't have many other   
  
options,* he replied grimly. *We'll have to time it just right if this is going   
  
to work.*  
  
*It might be best if we concentrated, merging our resources* Mara said.  
  
Luke met her gaze, knowing that she was suggesting that they connect on a deeper   
  
level, merging their minds to operate on a more efficient and intimate level. He   
  
nodded slowly, and then smiled slightly. He couldn't help but be touched by her   
  
wiliness to trust him, even though it was only common sense that this would   
  
increase the likelihood of their survival.  
  
Mara nodded, then edged closer to him, making sure her aim was clear of any   
  
obstruction, then pulled her pocket blaster from her wrist holster.  
  
As he watched her prepare herself, Luke dimly made a note to himself to ask her   
  
one day about the story behind her blaster set. He had never seen anything that   
  
even closely resembled her peculiar weapon. It was intriguingly unique, just   
  
like the red head that owned the blaster.  
  
Then, the time for introspection was gone and Luke began to focus. He could feel   
  
Mara's shining presence in the force, they stood just outside the empty zone   
  
created by the ysalmiri. It would take a tremendous amount of concentration to   
  
react quickly to the shots as they entered the meager area between them and the   
  
void. He would not be able to sense the blaster fire until it cleared the empty   
  
zone, leaving him no room for error. When the troopers became aware of their   
  
presence, he would have to block all of the shots while Mara destroyed the   
  
remaining lizards. With each ysalmiri that Mara took out, it would become a   
  
little easier for him to maintain their protective barrier.   
  
Luke focused his complete attention on Mara, deepening his awareness with the   
  
beautiful red head. Almost instantaneously, he could hear her thoughts, and   
  
sense her professionalism as she estimated the distance of each target as she   
  
prepared to fire at their enemy's lizards. The young woman barely warned him   
  
before she initiated the attack. Careful to not disturb her he watched,   
  
captivated, aware that he was witnessing the side of her that was the result of   
  
her training as the Emperor's assassin. However, unlike what he might have   
  
thought, this side of her didn't upset, or repel him. Instead, the more he   
  
watched her at work, the more he realized that the Emperor had merely used   
  
Mara's abilities. He was seeing her as he had never seen her before and she   
  
captivated him.  
  
Two bolts of energy quickly left her weapon. By the time the first ysalmiri had   
  
fallen, Mara was aiming at the third. It made a low moan and then slumped the   
  
moment the blaster bolt hit true. She quickly disposed of the fourth creature.  
  
Luke couldn't help but gape at her shooting skills. Even though he himself was   
  
considered to be an expert, he realized that her skills surpassed his own.   
  
The troopers were at first startled by the sound of blaster fire and quickly   
  
spotted them on the ground level. They ran closer, and opened fire on them. Luke   
  
quickly turned on and raised his saber, fighting past his aching left shoulder   
  
to do so, and deflected the first blasts back at the closest trooper. Mara   
  
continued to fire at the next target--- while the remaining five troopers   
  
focused their intense blaster fire at them continuing to run toward them. Luke   
  
understood that the troopers were intending to cut them off from the Force by   
  
bringing them within the influence of the remaining ysalmiri. They knew that if   
  
they managed to come a few meters closer to them, he and Mara would once again   
  
be within a Force void. As he continued to fight against his body's messages of   
  
complaint, he pondered how the enemy had known that they would need ysalmiri in   
  
the first place?  
  
Luke and Mara were aware that the only way to survive their predicament was for   
  
them to quickly dispatch the remaining guards with their ysalmiri frames on   
  
their backs. Mara attempted to open her mind more fully to Luke. She lowered all   
  
her barriers; her spirit merged with Luke's, allowing them to work on the same   
  
pattern of thought. Their coordination was precise. They became an extension of   
  
one another.  
  
She managed to kill three more lizards---- when a glancing bolt caught Luke in   
  
the left shoulder blade, the pain searing through both of them as it   
  
reverberated though their link. They were knocked out of their Force connection.   
  
Luke then lost his balance and weapon and fell from their perch. Recovering her   
  
breath, Mara used the Force to stash her blaster in her waistband at the small   
  
of her back while she reflexively threw herself along the horizontal support.   
  
She extended her hand and used the Force to pull Luke back toward her.  
  
She unfortunately caught him by his injured arm, aggravating the injury by   
  
pulling all his weight on his bad shoulder. Luke, who was still reeling from the   
  
attack, recovered his senses at that and gritted his teeth against a cry of   
  
pain. His eyes sought hers--- then the Force was gone. The troopers had   
  
surrounded them.  
  
They were trapped.  
  
But how had they failed? she wondered while she warily eyed the troopers who   
  
were under them. She shouldn't have killed the ysalamiri, she then reflexively   
  
rebuked herself when she caught sight of Luke's grimacing features; she should   
  
have taken out the troopers. But if she had done so, she reminded herself, she   
  
would not have acted as a Jedi. Luke had taught her well to choose life over   
  
death. "Give me your other hand, Luke," she told him while she tried to   
  
reposition herself for better balance.  
  
"Aaaah," Luke groaned when he tried to reposition himself. "It hurts too much."  
  
"My, my, my," a hauntingly familiar low voice sneered from below them. "What a   
  
touching sight, yet such a waste. Still, it should provide my troops with   
  
adequate target practice."  
  
A new bolt of energy hit Luke in the foot; he was unable to suppress a yelp of   
  
new pain. He tried to twist around and see who had spoken. Mara tightened her   
  
grip on his hand. The troopers held their blasters aimed at them. There had to   
  
be a way out of this, the ex-assassin thought desperately. If only she could spy   
  
an opening, she would be able to save her friend, whom she loved. She was also   
  
pretty sure now that he loved her too.   
  
They would get through this, she promised herself. She would not allow the enemy   
  
to kill them now that they had finally found each other.  
  
New bolts of energy filled the air around them; Mara reflexively twisted her arm   
  
around itself, trying to protect Luke from further injuries. When the bolts   
  
stopped coming, she and Luke glanced at each other, then turned toward the   
  
source of the latest bolts.  
  
"You should have kissed me with more feeling Skywalker," the other sneered, her   
  
voice becoming clearer as she stepped closer. "When you walked away from me, you   
  
signed your own death warrant," she continued her voice dripping with menace.   
  
She stepped out of the shadows.  
  
Both Mara and Luke gasped in shock as their enemy's identity became apparent.   
  
TBC in part 7: Secrets Revealed  
  
Written by Rhea and SJ, 2003 


	7. Part 7: Secrets Revealed

Divided Heart  
  
Part 7: Secrets Revealed  
  
By SJ and Rhea (skyjade@globetrotter.net and jediknight@mail2master.com)  
  
05-04-03  
  
___________  
  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs   
  
to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more   
  
details.  
  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702   
  
Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and   
  
accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my   
  
friend!  
  
Rhea: Thanks to SJ for working on this with me. It's been fun!  
  
_____________________   
  
"Tarrintha!?", Luke gasped almost inaudibly. His shoulder felt as if his arm was   
  
slowly burning away from his body, and he couldn't move his foot anymore without   
  
adding to his pain.   
  
"I thought that you had left the planet," Mara grunted while she tried to pull   
  
him up once again.   
  
The moment that she pulled on his arm, he groaned loudly as he tightened his   
  
grip on her hand, in a silent pleading for her to stop. There was no avoiding   
  
the excruciating pain of standing upright.   
  
"Every commander knows better than to expose her real plans, Emperor's Hand,"   
  
Tarrintha sneered contemptuously.   
  
Luke suddenly realized that the two women were eluding to events that he had no   
  
knowledge of; he glanced up at Mara. She appeared shell-shocked.   
  
"Oh yes," the blond woman commented maliciously. She stood below their position   
  
now, a lizard-carrying trooper right on her heels. "Terren and I where perfectly   
  
aware that you were eavesdropping in that room, Jade. We put on quite a show,   
  
wouldn't you agree?"  
  
"You wanted to kill both Luke and me along with all the others," Mara barely   
  
breathed. Her grip slowly loosened Luke's hand as the horror gripped her. How   
  
had she been so blind?  
  
Luke tried to prevent himself from slipping further down. He had barely begun to   
  
tighten his grip when the resulting jolt of pain almost forced him unconscious.   
  
He managed to barely push back the darkness that tried to claim his vision   
  
before he lost another millimeter of Mara's hand. The tremors hit again, and the   
  
red-headed woman reflexively tightened her grip on Luke's palm. Mara slipped   
  
down, falling at an awkward angle. Luke closed his eyes, preparing himself for a   
  
fall. If he could only feel the Force again. Things did not look good.  
  
******   
  
At the medical center, the corridors were filled with injured people. While the   
  
citizens with ships as well as the military, had taken to the air and were   
  
praying for a miracle about the shield generator, many more were left stranded   
  
on the self-destructing planet.   
  
Leaving Han in the capable hands of a 2-1B unit, Leia chose to assist the medics   
  
as well as she could. Even though her subordinates had contacted her insisting   
  
that she leave the ground immediately, she had ignored them. Instead, she had   
  
abandoned her comlink on a nearby shelf and had decided that she would not be   
  
protected in a glass tower when the average citizens were suffering from an   
  
attack against her government.   
  
She could not abandon them to their fate; she would be with them. She trusted   
  
her brother and Mara Jade to destroy the accelerator, but if they failed, then   
  
it would be the will of the Force. Others would pick up the flame of Freedom   
  
once she would be gone. Her work was important, but she was not essential to the   
  
galaxy.   
  
Thus, after getting a refresher course on how to bandage minor bleeding and how   
  
to monitor the vital signs of the injured, she assisted the medical team to do   
  
triage, determining who needed urgent treatment and who could afford to wait.   
  
She was just beginning to check on a young man laying on a cot, when she   
  
recognized him. Leia had seen him at a function just recently. He was   
  
Tarrintha's aide, she suddenly remembered. He was gravelly injured.   
  
"What happened?" she asked while trying to rouse him. She checked his pulse; it   
  
was slowly fading away.   
  
"The... Danger..." he whispered very weakly, "Princess... Tar... danger..."   
  
"Yes, we know that she's a traitor," she nodded grimly at him. "We will go after   
  
her once this is over. Who did this to you?" She pressed a bacta bandage against   
  
bleeding chest. He had been shot alongside the heart.  
  
"Rrrrrr,..." the man gurgled incoherently, then fell unconscious.   
  
"No!!" Leia roused him, clapping her hands around his head. All of a sudden, she   
  
could feel that the knowledge that he possessed, his secret, was of the utmost   
  
importance if they were to survive. She was convinced that he held the key to   
  
their enemy's plans. "Wake up!" she almost screamed in his ears.  
  
The man groaned weakly.   
  
"Who attacked you? Where is the Princess?"   
  
"H... he... re...." the injured man barely breathed... then she felt his life-   
  
Force leave him as his body succumbed to the fatal injuries.   
  
Leia swallowed hard, affected by his death, as she considered his last words.   
  
The ex-princess of Alderaan closed his eyes as she slowly, almost painfully,   
  
covered his face with a blanket.   
  
He...re, he had said, here!!!!!---- The traitor was still on the planet going   
  
after Luke! She realized in horror even as she understood exactly where on the   
  
planet the traitor was. Quickly abandoning her duties as a nurse, she returned   
  
to Han's side. She had to consult with him before she attempted to find her   
  
brother and warn him.   
  
******   
  
Even as Mara felt herself pitch forward, she swiftly extended both of her legs   
  
behind her and wove them tightly around the crisscrossing struts, successfully   
  
securing her position. Then, she extended her free hand toward Luke to seize his   
  
slippery hand.  
  
"Terren's greatest wish was to have you watch Skywalker die," the blond-haired   
  
woman said ominously. She spread her legs wide, maintaining her balance as the   
  
ground continued to roll. It seemed as if the very planet was complaining about   
  
the torture it was experiencing. No longer garbed in expensive finery, Tarrintha   
  
Goule had the appearance of an experienced military commander. Except for the   
  
imperial crest on her left arm, her uniform was devoid of any sign of rank or   
  
insignia. "Personally, I wanted you two to come to me, to learn of my role in   
  
your death."  
  
"And what about Terren? Would he have ruled at your side?" Mara asked despite   
  
herself.   
  
Luke craned his neck and threw her a questioning glance. Enemy or not, she   
  
silently told him, the man had used to be her friend, and that woman had coldly   
  
accepted him death, unremorseful.  
  
"If he had survived," she shrugged, confirming to her that was indeed aware of   
  
Terren's demise, somehow, "I would have used him, but it was Skywalker that I   
  
really wanted by my side."   
  
The quakes subsided again. She casually took another shot at them, the bolt   
  
barely grazing Luke's chest. The Jedi barely had enough mobility to writhe away   
  
from it. She was playing with them, carelessly torturing them as they talked.  
  
She was not so different from the Emperor. He enjoyed playing with his prey and   
  
he had also greatly desired Skywalker at his side, Mara thought. She wished that   
  
she could use the Force to determine if the woman was Force-sensitive or not.   
  
But then, Mara frowned to herself, if she had the Force, her priority would be   
  
saving both of their lives  
  
Then an idea struck her. Mara focused on the troopers who were slowly stepping   
  
away in order to acquire a better vantage in with to aim their weapons at them.   
  
There were only three ysalamiri left, and with each new death the bubble would   
  
diminish in size---   
  
"Tarrintha!" Luke tried a suddenly appeal to the woman. Tarrintha had continued   
  
taking potshots at him. "Avenging yourself against me, Mara, and whoever else   
  
has ever hurt you is understandable, but you will destroy an entire planet in   
  
your quest for revenge. A planet on which when it is destroyed will kill you as   
  
well."  
  
"I'll be long gone before this place collapses around us, Jedi," she sneered.   
  
"But it is nice to know that you care a little for me." She said sarcastically.  
  
"But first, so that you don't miss my absence, I'll have to take you out of your   
  
misery. I'm going to enjoy the pleasure of punishing you for your lack of   
  
vision. With the New Republic gone, combined with your death, which will cripple   
  
the Jedi, the galaxy will be mine."   
  
"You are deluded, Tarrintha if you think that is enough to gain power," Mara   
  
sneered in disdain. "I remember what happened when the Emperor held a similar   
  
discourse with me." Aware that Mara would not provoke the other unless she had a   
  
plan, Luke craned his neck painfully to meet her gaze. Shifting her grip on his   
  
hand, she mimicked her blaster with her right hand, then pretended to slip a   
  
little and raised it back on the girder's level.   
  
She was preparing to draw and shoot, he realized. However, no matter how fast   
  
his friend was, they were sitting targets in their current position. As if to   
  
answer his worry, Mara pretended to slip again as a new round of quakes even   
  
stronger than before, shook them, and he understood what she had in mind. If it   
  
worked, he promised himself as he focused his gaze on the ground below them, he   
  
would never call Han a dare-devil again.   
  
The smuggler had met his match now. "Well Jade, do you have any vital and   
  
meaningless platitudes to exchange with the Jedi before he dies before your   
  
eyes? Terren might be gone, but his last wish will be fulfilled."   
  
"I don't think so!" Mara spat, then let go of her perch as she pulled her   
  
blaster from her back. Both Luke and Mara fell full speed toward the hard,   
  
unwelcoming ground. As Mara's first bolt made it past Luke's falling body, the   
  
Empress's shot missed Luke's head by a few centimeters. Mara's shot struck one   
  
of the remaining lizards, allowing the Force to flow back into them.   
  
Luke quickly used the Force to shield them both against the blaster fire, and   
  
with his incredible control, managed to halt their descent. Thrown off guard,   
  
the Imperials' bolts hit the ground where they would have landed, had Luke not   
  
stopped their fall in time. As Luke levitated them safely to the ground, Mara   
  
shot the remaining ysalamir, eliminating the trooper at the same time.   
  
By the time the Force void was gone, the ground had ceased shaking; Luke   
  
recovered his fallen weapon and both Jedi ignited their lightsabers.   
  
"Shoot!!" the princess ordered, ducked low to avoid Mara's aim. She aimed her   
  
blaster at the two Jedi, the weapon spat bolt after bolt of energy at them. Her   
  
troops immediately complied with her orders, attacking their two targets.   
  
Tarrintha aimed at Luke's injured foot.   
  
Despite Luke's best attempt to ignore or dampen his pain, he was unable to   
  
suppress the debilitating signals of his body. He managed to block and sometimes   
  
deflect the troopers' bolts, but he was unaware of the princess' attack.   
  
This time, her shot hit true, hitting him in the back, missing a kidney by mere   
  
millimeters.   
  
Mara felt Luke's pain when he crumpled under the debilitating injury. Both grief   
  
and rage caused her to abandon all caution, and she jumped within easy range of   
  
their attackers.   
  
The troopers fell easily before her slashing blue lightsaber. Once they were   
  
gone, she focused on Tarrintha. The she-devil was aiming her blaster at Luke's   
  
head, as if reveling in this moment and enjoying the pleasure of seeing him in   
  
pain. A cruel smile spread across Tarrintha's face.  
  
For a moment, Mara realized that the sneer could have been on her own face. She   
  
had been so like Tarrintha just a few years ago. It was easy to believe that she   
  
could have been the one about to kill Luke Skywalker...   
  
But she had learned that she did not want him dead. Mara wanted him very much   
  
alive, at any costs. She threw her weapon at the princess' blaster, effectively   
  
slicing its tip, incapacitating the weapon. Mara she jumped at the woman, her   
  
right foot extended directly at her head.   
  
To her surprise, Tarrintha side-stepped from her path, then, as Mara landed   
  
beside the her, the princess turned around and moved to hit her with a flat of   
  
her palm in the stomach.   
  
Mara slipped her arm in front of herself just in time to block the blow. For a   
  
long moment, determined green eyes met hatred-filled brown ones. The two young   
  
women exchanging hits; the ground around them shook harder than ever,   
  
punctuating the impacts of quick kicks and jabs.   
  
Mara tried to surprise her opponent with a series of quick punches, then a   
  
thrust to the jaw. The princess blocked all her swift moves with quick defensive   
  
moves, then delivered a direct kick. It was Mara's turn to block her; the two of   
  
them were once again at a stalemate, their techniques equally matched. Tarrintha   
  
launched herself at Mara, intent on tackling her. Acting on reflex, the red-head   
  
rolled with the impact, then, after positioning her feet against the other's   
  
chest, shoved her backward. She then rolled backward and regained her feet.   
  
When Mara turned to face Tarrintha though, she froze in horror. The all-too-   
  
familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber filled the silence, the sight of her blue   
  
blade illuminated the shadows of the princess' face. "Say goodnight to your   
  
lover boy, traitor," the evil blond-haired hissed. She seemed about to say   
  
something else when an surprised expression crossed her features. She opened her   
  
mouth and a gurgled moan came out instead. A bright green lightsaber pierced her   
  
chest, and the princess glanced down before the blade dropped to the ground   
  
slicing cleanly through the rest of her body.   
  
A few meters away from them, Luke lowered his hand, collapsing back onto his   
  
back, groaning loudly in pain. Tarrintha's body dropped to the floor. Luke's   
  
lightsaber hilt rolled away. Recovering from her shock, Mara rushed to Luke's   
  
side. He was seriously injured, but his vital signs were stable.   
  
"We can't... leave the Accelerator," he whispered.   
  
"I'm not leaving you here. I can carry you to the speeder," she stated while she   
  
called both of their weapons to her hands. She couldn't abandon him, but then   
  
she couldn't leave the accelerator to continue it's destruction; she couldn't   
  
let Luke die.  
  
"It's all right," he whispered faintly, as if reading her thoughts, "don't...   
  
worry,... just stop the accelerator, Mara," he insisted. "... you can stop   
  
it..." His head lulled to the side as he fell unconscious.   
  
For a brief moment, Mara debated with herself whether she should leave Luke's   
  
unconscious form here, but knew that it was up to her to save Coruscant and by   
  
doing that she would save Luke in the process.   
  
She darted to the seismic accelerator and swiftly ran her eyes up and down the   
  
computer pad; she typed in the terminate command.   
  
A droid voice stated, "Shut down will be initiated once confirmation has been   
  
received. Provide authorization now."   
  
Mara frantically raked her mind, trying to think of the correct password. As she   
  
considered Terren's role in the plan, a first possibility came to her mind. She   
  
typed in, "Palpatine."   
  
"Invalid Password. Self destruct initiated in ten minutes."   
  
"Kreth!" she cursed, then belatedly realized that Tarrintha's people were the   
  
ones who had created the weapon. So what would the princess use as a code?, she   
  
wondered, throwing a glance in the direction of the deceased princess.   
  
She typed in "Tarrintha"   
  
"Self destruct accelerated, two minutes until destruction."   
  
Mara groaned in worried annoyance, then glanced at Luke's prone form. She knew   
  
that they could never escape the explosion, but if she typed in the wrong code   
  
it would also be the death of both of them. She didn't want to kill him... not   
  
now, not ever... Tearing her gaze away from what might be the last sight that   
  
she would get of her dear friend, she refocused on the problem at hand.   
  
Tarrintha had programmed this, she thought grimly. She knew the princess now.   
  
Her weakness..--- had been her vanity and her insatiable desire for power!   
  
Suddenly remembering the princess' secret, she tried to remember how Terren had   
  
referred to her while they had been fighting.   
  
She glanced over at Luke once again and said softly almost as if it were a vow,   
  
"I love you." It was brief, and sounded insignificant to her ears, unable to   
  
express the depth of her emotions. And yet she projected all of her emotions,   
  
desires, and hopes to the unconscious Jedi, hoping that even in his current   
  
state he would know how she felt.   
  
As if to answer, the unconscious man stirred slightly, but did not rouse.   
  
Their time was up. It was now or never. She punched in her last command. One way   
  
or another, it would be over. Whether it worked or not, she would either save   
  
the planet, or she and the one she loved would die together.   
  
"Sovereign."   
  
Green lights instantly flickered on and off along the circular end of the   
  
tubular accelerator. Whirring and hissing sounds also came from the contraption;   
  
surrounding them. The shakes resumed with an intensity that left no doubt as to   
  
the coming fate of the planet. Feeling her heart freeze in her chest, Mara's   
  
eyes darted in Luke's direction. She had failed; they would die together. It was   
  
unfair. They would never have the chance to share their life, Luke would never   
  
know how she felt. She rose to her feet, intent on being with him when in their   
  
final moment.  
  
Then the mechanical voice spoke again. "Termination sequence aborted. Powering   
  
down."   
  
The quakes quickly subsided. The ground grew still; the air suddenly quiet.   
  
Mara, who was halfway between the accelerator and Luke's location, stopped in   
  
her tracks and released a long breath of relief. She pushed the damp hair off   
  
her forehead. It was over.   
  
"That was too close," she whispered as she closed the distance between her and   
  
Luke, who had begun to stir. Luke tried to sit, but groaned, and collapsed back   
  
once again. "Ah!" he gasped; his hand settling on his injured hip.   
  
"Lie still, farmboy," Mara soothed him. He could feel her slip down to the   
  
ground behind him, and then she propped his head on her lap. "It's over now; we   
  
have all the time in the galaxy to get you to safety without any need to   
  
aggravate that wound."  
  
"It's really over?" he asked her faintly, his awareness drifting slightly in and   
  
out.   
  
"Yes," she smiled softly at him, then bent forward and kissed him hard and long   
  
on the lips. *We're safe now, and I can't wait to share the future with you,   
  
Luke,* she sent him as she lowered all her barriers, allowing him to feel the   
  
depth of emotions, exposing her true feelings for the Jedi.   
  
Luke was amazed by this sudden act; he basked in the moment, enjoying her love   
  
and concern while revelling in the physical sensation of her lips caressing his   
  
own as they continued the passionate kiss.   
  
She loved him! She really, truly loved him. He was her former nemesis, a mere   
  
farmboy-turned-Jedi Master, who always got on her nerves----   
  
*I couldn't tell you how I felt, but I was not 'always' angry at you,* his   
  
companion replied silently, then pulled away from their kiss and smiled down at   
  
his relaxed face. He was still only half-conscious, but he was sure that he   
  
would remember this moment for the rest of his life with absolute clarity.  
  
"Just remember that when I'm old and gray;haired and still manage to rage at   
  
you, Jedi," she breathed softly.   
  
Like Leia and Han, Luke belatedly understood the true meaning of her words.   
  
"So," he whispered, a smile making it past his pain, "I take it that you really   
  
mean business with me, huh?"   
  
"Forever," his companion nodded, then kissed him again. Even though Luke was   
  
aware that he was not dreaming this time, he could barely believe that he was   
  
truly there with Mara. She had just told him that she was not averse to their   
  
being together for the rest of their lives together. He could see with a clarity   
  
that he immediately understood was a Force vision, that they would be married.   
  
After years of strife, conflicts, and somewhat-distant friendship...   
  
"Odd isn't it?" Mara agreed, quenching her feeling of worry. Sure that he would   
  
be all right, and allowed her the deep love that she felt for this man to   
  
surface. He rested his head on her lap.   
  
"What?" Luke smiled weakly at her.   
  
"You and I together," she replied, gazing down at his handsome face. Even   
  
backward, he looked gorgeous, and he was the only man whom she had actually ever   
  
used such an adjective to describe.  
  
"What are we going to do?" she asked him as images of Luke's family, the   
  
government, and the rest of the galaxy rose before her. So many would oppose   
  
their union...   
  
"I have a couple of suggestions," Luke answered her thoughts, "but I can promise   
  
you this, Mara," he continued weakly yet solemnly, "no one will ever take me   
  
away from your side. Not ever."  
  
Feeling tears of joy fill her eyes, she bent down once again and kissed him long   
  
and lingeringly until both of them were once again breathless.   
  
"Well," a very familiar, teasing voice commented from behind them, "told ya'   
  
that they would be more than able to handle themselves," Han Solo smirked at his   
  
wife as he winked at the two lovers.   
  
Mara pulled back to regard the Solos. Beside Han, his wife gaped so widely that   
  
Mara felt as if she and Luke were about to be swallowed whole. Behind the   
  
couple, New Republic soldiers were streaming in while what looked like a team of   
  
techs hurried over to the accelerator.   
  
Mara gazed down at Luke, who was as shocked as she was to see their friends   
  
approach. He hadn't sensed nor heard them coming.   
  
*I guess what they say about love is true, huh?* he quipped tiredly through   
  
their bond.   
  
*What is?*   
  
*That it makes you oblivious to the rest of the world,* Leia answered for her   
  
brother.   
  
Before Mara could answer her, the petite woman was beside them and hugging her.   
  
"Congratulations on both of your successes, Mara," she told her earnestly.   
  
"We'll never be able to thank you enough for saving the planet, and I," she   
  
continued more gently, "am glad that you and Luke have come together, at last."   
  
Mara was too shocked by Leia's sudden admission to reply. The other woman   
  
understood her. She sent to her. *Don't worry, you'll get used to being loved,   
  
especially with Luke around,* she winked silently.   
  
They turned their heads and watched over Luke as Han and a few medical techs   
  
transferred him onto a floating stretcher, which was then steered toward the   
  
landing medical ship.   
  
Not surprisingly, Luke complained about the upcoming bacta treatment all the way   
  
to the shuttle. Shaking their heads in mutual and newly-gained understanding,   
  
both women exchanged a wry grin, then headed toward the shuttle. They were both   
  
aware that the medical teams would need their help to keep Luke in check until   
  
he was healed.   
  
Behind them, the safety teams, under the watchful eye of General Madine,   
  
finished pulling the accelerator from the ground. Coruscant was saved, and a new   
  
life was beginning for the two Jedi lovers.   
  
******   
  
Epilogue: A few months later   
  
Even though Leia had an important role in the planning of their wedding   
  
celebration, Mara reluctantly conceded that the event had not been as pompous,   
  
nor as crowded as she had feared.   
  
Instead, it had been a mostly intimate affair, with a 'mere' two-hundred or so   
  
guests. The party, afterward, had been more widely attended, accessible to the   
  
press and gossipvids of the galaxy, but once again, her new family had made sure   
  
that the strangers would not become a hassle to either her or her new husband.   
  
So in short, she summarized to herself as she gazed out the balcony of their new   
  
apartment, the day had been as magical and as perfect as she had wanted it to   
  
be.   
  
And she was now part of Luke's family; she was not alone anymore. Nor would she   
  
ever be. Unlike her false family in the Empire, or even her adoptive family,   
  
with Karrde's organization, Luke and his family had truly accepted her. They   
  
knew her, understood her, and did not expect anything in return for their   
  
welcome, except her own affection and support of her new husband Luke Skywalker.   
  
She was one of the family, and it was an odd, yet pleasant sensation. A soft   
  
smile touched her red tinted lips. She would never allow anything nor anyone to   
  
harm her beloved husband.   
  
Luke slipped his arms around her waist and snuggled against her back. He rested   
  
his chin in the crook of her neck and bare right shoulder.   
  
"Ditto here," he replied softly.   
  
As usual, he had known what she had been thinking, and once again, she didn't   
  
mind. She had used to resent the fact that Luke had such a close, seemingly-  
  
unexplainable link with her, but after many years of true and honest friendship   
  
with him, she had come to understand that she was lucky to be able to share this   
  
bond with another.   
  
They were one now, bonded through the rituals of marriage, but also through the   
  
Force, and she wouldn't have it any other way.   
  
Leaning her head to the side, she rested it against Luke's while she pressed her   
  
body closer to his. "Thank you, Luke," she whispered, then shifted her neck and   
  
kissed his cheek. "Thank you for being there for me, even when I didn't know   
  
that's what I wanted. I so wish that we had not wasted so much time to   
  
understand our feelings."   
  
"So do I. I can't help thinking that we would have avoided the Carriban incident   
  
if I had been brave enough to express my feelings for you earlier."   
  
"And I wonder how I couldn't see Macay's game. It wasn't me, Luke," she   
  
continued more seriously, turning around until she was facing her still tuxedo-  
  
clothed companion. "How could I fall for him the way I did?"   
  
"Because he was a part of you that had to come back to the surface one last   
  
time, my love," Luke answered serenely. "He knew it. That's why he played on   
  
your memories of the past, of your glorious days with the Empire. By doing so,   
  
he was aware that he was offering something that neither I, nor Karrde, could   
  
give you anymore, the thrill of danger. He reminded you of your nostalgia of   
  
the past."   
  
"Yes," Mara nodded, her wisps of hair caressing her neck as she did so, "that's   
  
what I deduced too, but," she smiled softly as she stepped closer to her   
  
husband, "Do you know what I have discovered while I briefly revisited the past,   
  
if only in thoughts?"   
  
"Tell me," he smiled gently in return. She slowly wrapped her arms around his   
  
neck and rested her forearms on his strong shoulders.   
  
"That I do not crave those things anymore. Oh, I admit that I love a good   
  
adventure then and again, and that having a business of my own is challenging   
  
enough to keep on my toes if I don't want to go bankrupt, but for a long while   
  
now, I had been looking for what I now hold in my arms. I love you, Luke." She   
  
pulled him down to her face and kissed him slowly, languorously, expressing her   
  
love through her actions and the Force.   
  
Luke pulled her closer, his strong hands splayed across her back to support her   
  
while she felt that he, like her, didn't want the moment to end. As usual   
  
though, their need to breathe eventually forced them apart. "I love you too,   
  
Mara."   
  
For a long moment, they simply gazed at each other, taking in the sight of each   
  
other. Then, Luke pulled slightly away and reached for the pocket of his dark   
  
blue jacket. He pulled out a small package. "By the way, I think that you forgot   
  
a gift back at the reception," he teased her slightly, then set the package in   
  
the palm of her right hand.   
  
"Luke," she shook her head in mild rebuttal. She had known for a long while that   
  
her farmboy was generous to a fault with those he cared about. After the wedding   
  
ring, the contract for upgrades to a ship of her choice, and the silk gown that   
  
he had given her, she was beginning to feel that she had to stop his generosity   
  
or he would use up what the rest of his credits on her.   
  
"It's not from me," he answered, "or rather, not entirely from me," he amended   
  
when she gave him a stern glare.   
  
Sighing in resignation, Mara pulled open the wrapping, then slowly opened the   
  
case. She gasped in shock as she realized what she was now holding in her hands.   
  
A holo of Talon Karrde suddenly appeared in the air, just above the registration   
  
chips of the Jade's Fire. "Mara, my friend," the smuggler smiled at her. "I   
  
truly wish that I could have been there today as you and Luke unite your lives   
  
to each other, but as you know, sometimes my business does not allow me certain   
  
privileges. However, I wanted to assure you that my absence was not linked to   
  
what happened between us. I always knew, deep in my heart, that you and Luke   
  
would someday wake up from your respective slumbers. I never had any real hope   
  
that you would fall in love with me. I will always care for you and be there for   
  
you, as a very good friend. Mara, you will always be welcome in the group, and   
  
you and Luke, will always be considered as special friends. As a wedding gift, I   
  
am giving you the Jade's Fire. It is your ship , Mara, has always been yours.   
  
May you, and your future family, be happy and safe while traveling the galaxy,   
  
and don't hesitate to drop by, even unannounced. May the Force be With You   
  
both," he smiled warmly, then the holo dissolved.   
  
Mara was speechless, her knees were threatening to give way, and her breath was   
  
trapped in her throat. She had her own ship now. Karrde had gone against his   
  
deeply-seated principles of ownership and had truly given her the ship, not on a   
  
long-term loan, but as a wedding gift. Luke had known all about this! She   
  
suddenly understood the gift he had given her earlier that day.   
  
"He didn't know exactly how to make up for his absence," Luke smiled when she   
  
refocused on his grinning features. "I simply made a suggestion. He has a   
  
special friendship with you. He made the decision to give you the registration   
  
for the Fire. I didn't influence his decision."   
  
Yet Karrde had understood that Luke's suggestion would allow her the freedom to   
  
truly make her own choices, that by giving the Fire to her, he would give her   
  
the greatest gift that anyone had ever given to her, except for when Luke had   
  
freed her from the Emperor and his invisible chains of slavery.   
  
"Thank you Luke," she told him earnestly, then kissed him again. This time, she   
  
didn't let go of him for a long, long while. She wanted to express her gratitude   
  
for everything he had done, and all that he had given her. He had selflessly   
  
tried to maintain her friendship with Kaarde, and in the process had secured the   
  
perfect ship for her.   
  
The sound of Luke's YP speeder grew louder as it approached. When they parted   
  
the speeder was waiting by the balcony. Luke had used his remote control to call   
  
the ship to them. Mara made a mental note to get such a device for the Fire. Now   
  
that she was with Skywalker, she couldn't predict the future, and she truly had   
  
to be ready for anything.   
  
Farmboy had a knack for getting into sticky situations, she smiled inwardly.   
  
"How about checking out the ship right now?" Luke offered mischievously, then   
  
jumped lightly over the railing and in to the speeder. Despite still being   
  
garbed in her wedding gown, Mara followed suite.   
  
"Where to?" she inquired as desire for this man filled her. She gave him a   
  
playfully lusty look.   
  
If the Fire would be their ship from now on, then it about time that they   
  
claimed it. The idea of christening it appealed to her. She settled in the   
  
passenger seat and edged closer to Luke's side.   
  
He smiled back, playing along. "Hmmm, well, I though we could recalibrate my x-  
  
wing," the young man said teasingly.   
  
"Skywalker," Mara groaned at his sense of humor.   
  
"What? You had something else in mind?" he asked, his voice suddenly deepening.   
  
"Yeah," she smiled. Mara saw an opportunity to goad him, "How about I drop you   
  
in a bacta tank and return in about a week?"   
  
The newly wedded couple burst into heartfelt laughter as they sped away from   
  
their apartment toward the private hangar where the Jade's Fire waited patiently   
  
for the adventures to come.   
  
The End   
  
Written by Rhea and SJ, 2003 


End file.
